Do You Sit Too Much?

New research results keep confirming what we have suspected all along – sitting is bad for us. But just how bad?

Even if you regularly exercise when not sitting behind your desk, the amount of sitting most of us do still significantly raises your risk for diabetes, heart disease (including strokes and heart attacks), obesity and even certain types of cancer. For every two hours of sitting, you raise your risk of colon cancer by 8 percent, endometrial cancer by 10 percent, and lung cancer by 6 percent.

Diabetes

Idealized curves of human blood glucose and insulin concentrations during the course of a day containing three meals. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Mayo Clinic did a study of how sitting affects blood sugar spiking and what they found was amazing. If the study participants went back to sitting after a meal, or ate while sitting at their desk, their blood sugar peaked and stayed there for two hours. However, if the same participants took a 15-minute walk at just 1 mph after eating, their blood sugar peaks were cut in half. Of course your risk for developing diabetes increases if you consistently have high blood sugar.

Heart Disease

When we sit, we are not burning as many calories as we would if we were up and moving around. So it takes longer for our bodies to burn off the calories we ate at lunch. This keeps the blood sugar higher for a longer period of time. And high blood sugar in effect causes tiny tears on the inside of veins and arteries – prime places for plaque to start accumulating and eventually cause heart disease. In the American Heart Journal article Circulation: Heart Failure, it documented men who sat for more than 5 hours per day increased their risk of heart disease by 34% verses men who only sat 2 hours per day.

Obesity

It is a well-documented fact that if you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight as the body stores the extra calories it doesn’t need at the time. It is a natural defense mechanism so that we have fat stores to draw upon in case of lean times.

By sitting, we are not burning off the calories we had for lunch and any snacks eaten during the day. The extra calories increase your weight which starts to cause other health problems, including diabetes. In a way it becomes the “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” dilemma. Did diabetes cause your obesity or did your obesity cause diabetes?

Standing treadmill desk.

How To Reduce Your Risk

There are several things you can do to lessen your risk of health issues due to sitting. First, get up and move around - as much as possible. That can mean walking over to a colleague’s desk instead of sending an email. Frequently get up and get a glass of water from the water cooler or a cup of coffee from the break room or cafeteria. Do a short series of stretches or yoga poses in your cubicle every hour or so.

Next, take a short 15-minute walk outside after lunch. Not only will it lower your blood sugar, but it will clear your head and reduce stress.

Finally get at least 2 ½ hours of moderate to high-intensity cardio exercise per week (preferably in short 20-30 minute segments) along with muscle-strengthening workouts twice per week. (We post a short workout video every week, so be sure to check back here each Thursday for a new, fun weekly workout!) While exercise won’t completely offset the effects of prolonged sitting, it will help.

Lastly, if you have a say in your office décor, consider getting a standing desk. Your body will thank you for it.

Avoid "Sitting Disease" with These Simple Tips

"Sitting disease" is the new catch phrase for a sedentary lifestyle. Scientists and doctors have learned that a sedentary lifestyle is much more dangerous than previously thought. In fact, we now know that it causes cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and shortens your life span.

The problem is that most people, perhaps yourself included, have a sedentary lifestyle by default. You sit at a desk all day. You sit in the car to get to and from work. Even children sit at a desk all day. Fortunately, the solution doesn't have to be complicated. You can escape sitting disease with a few simple tips.

1. Stretch

Spend time in the morning and throughout your day just getting up and moving your body. When you get out of bed, stretch your arms over your head. Bend over and touch your toes. Stretch from side to side too. This gets you immediately in touch with your body in the morning. Do the same thing throughout your day. Stand up, get away from your desk at least once an hour, and move your body.

2. The Whole Day Approach

Exercising during the day is a good thing. However, it doesn’t solve the “sitting disease” problem. If you still sit for more than seventy percent of your day then you’re probably sitting too much. Approach your day with a different ideology. Try to get up and walk every hour. Walk to the bathroom. Go get a drink of water. Go outside and get some fresh air.

Image via WikipediaWhen you run errands, park at the back of the lot and walk to the store. If you can stand at your desk and work, do that too. If you have something to ask or tell a co-worker then get up and go to their desk. Make moving a habit throughout your day.

3. Get a Standing Desk
If possible, get a standing desk. These desks are easy to make. You can even simply stack boxes on your desk and position your computer keyboard at waist level for a while. (One of my co-workers does this on a regular basis.)

4. Pace
When you’re on the phone, get up and move. Pace. It burns calories and it gets your body moving. Additionally, walking when you’re talking has been shown to stimulate brain activity. You may have more productive conversations.

5. Be an Active Watcher

When you watch television don’t sit on the couch, at least not the entire time. Get up during commercials. Get on the floor and stretch or do strengthening exercises. Get a folding walking treadmill and walk while you watch.

Image via Wikipedia6. Make Leisure Time Active Time

What do you and your friends and family do together? Does it involve sitting for hours at a time? If so, consider changing your habits. Go for a hike together. Play football, Frisbee or go bowling.

Sitting disease doesn’t need to be combated by exercising for hours a day. Instead, look for ways to simply move your body more often. Your body was made to move. You have amazing joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles all designed to move! Use them regularly and often so you can stay healthy and live a long life.

Why Physical Fitness Is A Must For A Healthy Life

Whether you’re over 40, a yuppie in your mid-20s or a teenager in college, loving your body and engaging in a regular exercise plan is always a fool-proof way to a healthier you. Physical fitness is your body’s ability to easily and effectively do tasks and leisure activities. It is your body’s capacity to withstand stress, endure and perform certain tasks under certain circumstances.

Image via WikipediaPhysical fitness talks about an over-all focus on the body – the heart, the lungs, the muscles, and the other organs of the body. Your body’s fitness is dependent on your physical limitations and capacities as well as your lifestyle – the food you eat and your daily habits.

Here’s a backgrounder on the different components of physical fitness. There’s endurance, the body’s ability to sustain oxygen and nutrients to tissues over a sustained period of time. Strength, on the other hand, is the ability of the muscle to exert force for a period of time. Flexibility is the ability to move joints and use muscles in a wide range of activities and movements. Swimming, running and jogging are some of the activities that can build endurance while pushups and weight lifting are good for building muscle strength.

Your workout should include activities that should develop these components. Remember to have a warm-up before starting your work-out. A warm-up conditions and prepares the muscles for the more rigorous activities of your work-out plan. At the same time, it should end with a cool down, a few minutes designed to bring down the heart rate and cool the body, wherein the muscles are given time to relax after a heavy work-out session. Remember not to overdo your exercise. A daily walk may sound good, but a daily session of pushups may do more harm than good to your muscles. Space your physical activities in such a way that your body is introduced gradually to a variety of physical activities, ranging from the simple to the more complex, from cardiovascular exercises to strength exercises. Two to three work-out sessions a week is a good way to start. As you progress in your activities, you can now increase the frequency or duration of your exercises.

Image via WikipediaTake note of your diet. If you’re exercising because you want to lose weight at the same time as build up your fitness, then lower calorie intake can greatly benefit you. Cycling can burn 240-410 calories while jogging can burn 740-920 calories. In general, avoid salty food and sweets. Avoid alcohol, caffeine and nicotine. Lessen your intake of sugar, processed grains, and man-made fats, and be sure to drink lots of water.

Of course, keeping fit and staying fit means listening to your body. Allow your body to adjust with each change in routine and exercises. If you’re experiencing cramps, dizziness or prolonged weakness, stop your work-out and consult a doctor. And most of all, never be discouraged. Take note, achieving the body you want is not an overnight miracle.

A physically fit body does not only spell great abs and a flab-free stomach. It also means lesser chances of acquiring lifestyle-related diseases like diabetes and heart disease, as well as a more active and alert mind, improved ability to cope with stress, and more reserved energy for your daily activities. And let’s not forget a more confident YOU!

For some fun ways to exercise and improve your physical fitness, visit http://www.newholisticliving.com/exercise.html.

The Dangers of Childhood Obesity

Today's article underscores the importance of instilling good (and fun) exercise habits from an early age. The average lifespan in the U.S. is already shortening - this problem should be addressed - not soon, but right now.

Image via WikipediaUnfortunately, childhood obesity is a significant problem, and it is not only a condition that affects the childhood of the obese individual. Being obese as a child increases your risk for heart conditions in adulthood. In fact, obesity in children has been called a warning sign of heart disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), 16 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 19 meet the criteria for obesity. And while new cases of obese children are not necessarily growing, the number of children with diabetes is growing. This may well be a result of the childhood obesity epidemic.

In one study, artery wall thickness in obese children and teens was found to be as thick as the artery walls of a 45-year-old adult. This means that childhood obesity could have a sort of acceleration effect on heart disease. While the study was not conclusive and the number of participants was small, it does raise a certain red flag of concern. Also, the arteries of obese children may be in the first stages of atherosclerosis, which is the artery-hardening process that leads to stroke and heart attack. A study in Austria found that some obese children have enlarged hearts.

Pediatricians and other experts are concerned about the fact that these obesity-specific problems are occurring in such young people, who are still undergoing growth and development. Their systems are still being "fine-tuned," and having heart and obesity problems at such a young age means there is more time for the fat to do its damaging work. In other words, heart disease gets an earlier start on its damaging effects in the body.

High blood pressure is another concern in obese children, especially those children who have a family history of high blood pressure.

Image via WikipediaAnother concern about childhood obesity is the number of fat cells in the body. Once you become an adult, the number of fat cells you have in your body does not change; they simply get bigger or smaller as you lose weight. The number of fat cells is still being determined in childhood, so an obese child is being set up to have weight problems for the rest of his or her life.

Thankfully, there are plenty of things you can do to prevent and treat obesity in your child. First, lower the saturated fat your child eats. Hot dogs, processed lunch meats, transfats, and other artificial fats and processed oils should be sharply limited. Avoid empty calories such as those found in packaged cakes, cookies, and other sugar-rich and nutrient-deficient foods. Fast foods should be completely eliminated from the child's diet.

Encourage your child to eat a lot of whole foods - brown rice, whole grain bread (preferably homemade), and fresh produce of all sorts. Nuts, while high in fat, make healthy snacks that help your child feel full. Let your child have treats in the form of homemade sweets that do not have a lot of refined sugar or fat (such as natural fruit leather). (For some recipe ideas, visit our Cooking From Scratch blog.)

And last but certainly not least, don't forget exercise! Kids should run around in the fresh air as much as possible on a daily basis. Encourage outdoor play, sports, biking, hiking, or other activity. Get the family in on the program, too, and set a good example for your children - it will prove beneficial for both you and them!

Related Articles on Childhood Obesity

• New research identifies GP and parental reluctance to address childhood obesity (esciencenews.com)
• Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies (bespacific.com)
• Childhood obesity: A parenting failure? (20114t.wordpress.com)
• Childhood Obesity. Let's Focus on Successes (survivorpediatrics.wordpress.com)

Aerobics is Dead?

(An interesting article by Dr. Sears....) The biggest mistake of the 1980s is finally over and done with… Jumping around for 45 minutes to an hour won't boost your lung capacity, it won't strengthen your heart – it won't even help you drop weight.

Even worse, aerobic training—the kind most doctors and even the federal government tout as the path to good health—can actually wreck your body. Do enough, and aerobics will make you sick, tired and old before your time.

Image via Wikipedia

I can't tell you how many times my patients have come to me thinking that aerobics and long-duration "cardio" is the best and only way to improve their heart and lungs. NOTHING could be further from the truth!

If you only exercise within your current aerobic limits, you do so without improving your aerobic capacity. In other words, you never push hard enough to stop to catch your breath. This kind of aerobic exercise trains your body for endurance and efficiency.

That sounds great, right? But this kind of "logic" causes "shrinkage:" Smaller muscles, smaller heart and smaller lungs. What's worse, it wipes out your heart's and lung's reserve capacity.

Your reserve capacity is what your heart and lungs use to deal with stress.

Injuries or physical trauma, a shocking emotional blow, a particularly intense session in the bedroom with your partner—these all demand reserve energy.

Reserve capacity means your heart has the ability to pump more blood, faster in times of stress. Reserve capacity for your lungs allows them to deal with high exertion like lifting, carrying, running or going up stairs.

Without reserve capacity, you are much more likely to drop dead from a heart attack or pneumonia when faced with stress. No "reserve capacity" in your checking or savings account means bankruptcy. No "reserve capacity" in your heart and lungs means a fatal heart attack or succumbing to what should have been nothing more than bronchitis or "walking" pneumonia.

But a different kind of exercise builds reserve capacity for your lungs, your heart and your blood vessels… and gives you many other health benefits as well.

Now YOU can get your hands on an easy-to-learn technique that:

• Rebuilds Your Lungs – Even if you're an ex-smoker!
• Reverses Heart Disease – And Prevents Heart Attacks
• Adds Years – Even Decades – of Healthy Living to Your Life
• Pumps Up Your Immune System – Making You Virtually Disease Proof
• Builds Pounds of New Muscle – Without Lifting Weights! 

PACE® Rediscover Your NativeFitness – shatters all the myths and misconceptions about health, aging and fitness.

So throw away your jogging shoes, cancel your aerobics class and say goodbye to hours of never-ending workouts. Then round up all your 'diet' books and toss them in the garbage…

PACE® proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that a strong, disease-resistant body and vibrant health does NOT have to be difficult, time consuming or boring.

(It's okay to admit that exercising can be pure drudgery – I know you've probably pushed yourself hard at the gym – without seeing the results you wanted – thinking that maybe you were doing something wrong… or worse: feeling like you were wasting your valuable time…)

Just look at our caveman ancestors. They had incredible strength and survived under punishing and life-threatening conditions – but they didn't make themselves repeat the same movement ten thousand times – day after day!

So what did cavemen know that mainstream medicine doesn't? Variation… Cavemen followed natural cycles of work and rest – or what I call periods of exertion and recovery. They didn't run for hours on end, starve themselves with ridiculous diets or lift boulders over their heads to build bigger muscles.

Many of today's greatest athletes know the secret. Carl Lewis, the winner of 9 Olympic gold medals, credits interval training – the basis of my PACE® program – for his record-breaking career. He even recommends it to non-athletes who want to reach their highest potential.

The concept is simple: Short periods of exertion followed by short periods of rest. But my PACE® program takes it two important steps further…

PACE® stands for: Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion.

Image via Wikipedia

By increasing the intensity and varying the duration of each interval according to the program, your heart and lungs get the right challenge they need to transform and stay fit and strong – well beyond the age of 100!

Where long-duration exercise causes your heart and lungs to shrink, PACE® does just the opposite. PACE® builds up reserve capacity in your heart (the only way to avoid a heart attack) and triggers the expansion of your lungs (your ticket to a long, disease-free life).

A few years ago, Harvard researchers published the Harvard Health Professionals Study. After studying over 7,000 people they found that the key to preventing heart disease is intensity – NOT long-duration exercise. Those who followed the basics of my PACE® program – short bursts of intensity, followed by short periods of rest – dramatically lowered their risk of heart disease. But that's not all…

In another Harvard study, intensity turned out to be the key to longevity and reduced risk of death. This study reinforces what I discovered 20 years ago: long-distance runners have a higher risk of sudden cardiac death than other athletes.

When I was in medical school, providing emergency care for marathon races, a young man collapsed just yards from our emergency aid station. His heart continued to violently race, as we put an oxygen mask over his blue lips. Another runner in his 20s made it to our station but had to kneel down to wait for emergency assistance. He was weak, dizzy and frightened – with a dangerously irregular heartbeat.

Later I came to call this pattern the "Jim Fixx Phenomenon," after the popular fitness guru of the 70's. Fixx claimed that the secret to heart health and long life was endurance running – up until he died of a heart attack – while running!

Now I know that the "new science" from the 1960s that promoted jogging was a big mistake. Long-duration aerobic training doesn't work. It isn't natural and your body knows it.

PACE® puts an end to the hardship of exercise. It super-sizes your lungs and bulletproofs your heart. Just what you need to prevent heart attacks and live a disease-free life.

But the benefits don't end there....

By reconnecting you to your native fitness, PACE® does more than just extend your life and give you endless reserves of energy. It burns your excess fat more effectively and reliably than any other system out there.

PACE® actually puts your body into "fat melting" mode. Imagine flicking a switch inside your body that told it to stop making fat – AND melt off all the excess fat you currently had… Now you're starting to get the picture…

How does PACE® do this? It's all about when you melt fat…

Image via Wikipedia

Long-duration exercise melts fat during your workout. Sounds good, right? Guess again… This sends a message to your body that you need a reserve of fat available at all times – so the next time you exercise you'll have something to throw on the fire. This self-defeating cycle ensures that your body makes more fat every time you finish exercising.

That's why you may have such a hard time dropping fat at the gym. Every time you melt fat during exercise, you body reacts by making more.

PACE® sessions can be as short as 10 to 12 minutes. And they NEVER last more than 20 minutes. That means your body never has a chance to melt fat during exercise. During PACE®, your body burns carbs from muscle tissue.

This triggers your "afterburn." When you finish your PACE® session, your body starts to melt fat to replace the carbs it just burned. In fact, your body continues to melt fat for up to 24 hours after you finish!

After a while, your body stops making fat all together – it simply doesn't need it anymore! This afterburn is the key to getting rid of excess body fat – not long hours of boring exercise.

Here's a perfect example. One of my patients – Mike F. – dropped over a hundred pounds in just 18 months.

When Mike first came to my clinic, he weighed 324 pounds. When I measured his body composition, he was 44% fat! To top it off, he was diabetic and had high blood pressure and heart disease. His cardiologist told him he would have to take medications for the rest of his life… and prepare his family for the worst.

When I told him about PACE®, he was interested but skeptical. He had tried everything… But faced with the alternative, he decided to give it a try.

Mike got results almost immediately. Within the first week, the fat started coming off. In the first 6 weeks, he dropped 37 pounds. Before he knew it, he had dropped 107 pounds. His body fat went from 44% down to an amazing 6%.

That was 3 years ago… Today, he still looks and feels great. The fat never returned. Even better, Mike is no longer diabetic and has no trace of heart disease.

Now You Can Benefit from 20 Years of My Own Research
Real People – Just Like You – melting Fat with No Effort… Living Disease Free for Life…

Imagine watching your fat melt away doing sessions that last only 12 minutes – just like Mike did…

Imagine waking up each morning knowing you had ZERO chance of having a heart attack – even if it runs in your family…

Or having the strength and mobility to travel the world – by yourself – well after retirement… These are the kind of PACE-inspired achievements my patients report.

These folks no longer worry about being overweight… They don't worry about becoming dependent on others… They have no need for prescription drugs… And they don't fear sickness or disease!

The PACE® program puts them in a league all their own.

Very soon, you'll feel the rush of a flat, toned belly – the luxury of surplus energy – and the security of a disease-free life.

It's a lot easier – and faster – than you think. In the time it takes you to check your e-mail or drink a cup of coffee, you can do an entire PACE® session!

Join the PACE revolution and your body will soon become naturally strong and resilient. You’ll join the cutting-edge group of thousands who now feel energized, motivated, and ready to take on any challenge. Your muscles will be their intended size, no bigger or smaller. Your chest will be robust, your waist thin, and your breath will be deep and focused. 

And the best news is that joining the PACE revolution takes on average only 12 minutes per day. 

To find out how you can reap the benefits of the PACE system yourself, just click here...