Blue Zones Don't Have Gyms!
2018-10-07
410 words
2 mins read
Time and health are two precious assets that we don't recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.
--- Denis Waitley
Thoughts
If these blue zones with the highest concentrations of centenarions don’t have gyms what are they doing? It’s simple, they naturally move a lot. Their life routines involve moving constantly throughout the day doing various tasks. This obviously presents a huge issue for industrialized nations with millions and millions of sedentary jobs. BTW, this number is only growing do to automation. For me personally, my day job has me sitting at a desk for 8 hours. I’ve pointed this out in my “your desk job is killing you” post; but I now spend most of my life laying down and sitting:
- 7 hours of sleep.
- 8 hours at a desk.
- 1.5 hours driving to/from work.
I spend roughly 16.5 hours of a 24 hour day in a sedentary state. If you subtract sleep from the equation that gives me 17 hours of awake time, which means that I even spend most of my awake time sitting just at working and driving ( 9.5 hours ).
Changes
I was having shoulder, elbow, and back pain while sitting at my desk during the day. It got to the point where I would have to switch hands for using a mouse the pain would get so bad. I finally consulted an ergomonics professional and he completely changed my desk setup. Simply following these general guidelines enabled me to eliminate the arm pain I was having. Next, I was able to obtain a sit/stand desk and within one week of standing for two hours per day during my work shift the back pain went away. The pain relief was so drastic that I was mad at myself for just dealing with it for so long.
Another aspect that standing can help with is tireness. Sometimes I’m simply tired in the morning or get an afternoon lull where I start yawning. Standing makes this go away for me. It has been great.
Applications that remind you to take a break also have helped me a lot. I can zone out and just work for extended periods of time staring at my computer screen. I have reminders now to look away every so often at an object 20+ feet away for 15 seconds. I also have a break reminder to stand and take a short walk several times throughout the day.
Reference
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- 2018/10/07 Food Pyramids
Authored By Tim Brown
Have the attitude and honest belief that if you give it your all it will be done. One day or day one.