For the first time in more than 15 years of working in the health, wellness and fitness industry, I took two consecutive weeks off. I know. I barely recognize myself either.
Now, before anyone pictures me stretched out on a beach somewhere with a frozen drink in my hand and absolutely no idea what day it is, let me clarify what I apparently consider “time off”: continuing education. Because nothing says rest and relaxation quite like sitting in front of a computer for hours taking notes, watching lectures, reading research and periodically questioning why I chose a profession that requires me to continue learning things for the rest of my natural life.
Mentally, though, it has been fantastic. I love learning and I love having the time to dig into research without simultaneously answering emails, writing programs, training clients and trying to remember whether I ate lunch.
My brain is having the time of its life. My body, however, would like to file a complaint. My hips hurt. My back is stiff. My neck is annoyed. After sitting for a few hours, I stand up and immediately feel like every part of my body needs a minute to remember what we are doing.
And it has reminded me of something I talk about all the time but rarely experience to this degree myself. Human beings really do not do particularly well when we stay in one position all day. That does not mean sitting is some horrible activity we need to eliminate from our lives. Please sit down. Eat dinner. Watch a movie. Read a book. Enjoy your couch. I am not coming into your living room and replacing all of your furniture with standing desks. The problem is not sitting. The problem is staying there for hours without giving your body much opportunity to do anything else.
You can exercise regularly and still spend way too much of the rest of your day sedentary. Those are two different things. You could wake up, go to the gym for an hour, have a fantastic workout and then spend eight or nine hours sitting at a desk. Your workout absolutely counts and provides enormous health benefits, but it does not magically erase all of those hours spent barely moving. I know this intellectually. After these past two weeks, I now know it from my hips.
Research on prolonged sitting has found that simply interrupting it with very short periods of movement can make a difference. In studies where people sat for several hours, researchers had participants periodically get up for brief bouts of light walking, sometimes for only two or three minutes at a time. Those little movement breaks improved the way the body handled glucose and insulin after eating, compared with uninterrupted sitting. Other research has shown benefits for things like blood pressure as well.
Notice what I did not say. Nobody had to change into workout clothes, drive to a gym or carve another hour out of an already busy day. Nobody needed a Peloton, and nobody was doing burpees next to the conference table. They got up and moved for a couple of minutes. That is an important distinction because I think we have made movement and exercise synonymous when they really are not.
Exercise is intentional, structured physical activity. Strength training, running, cycling, swimming, taking a yoga class or whatever else you intentionally do to challenge your body. Movement is everything else. Walking to refill your water. Taking the dog outside. Standing while you are on the phone. Walking down the hall instead of sending a message. Going outside for five minutes between meetings. Doing a lap around the house while you are waiting for the coffee to brew. None of those things is going to earn you an athletic achievement award, but your body still notices them.
Your body likes changing positions. Muscles contract. Joints move through different ranges of motion. Blood circulates. Your hips get to extend after spending hours flexed in a chair. Your glutes receive confirmation that they are still employed. And perhaps most importantly, you interrupt these enormous blocks of sedentary time without having to turn every moment of your day into another workout.
You also do not need to jump out of your chair obsessively every 20 minutes because your watch yelled at you. But if you regularly look up from your computer and realize you have not moved since some time around breakfast, we have some room for improvement. Every 30 to 60 minutes, stand up. Walk around. Refill your water. Stretch your legs. Take the long way to the bathroom. If you work from home, congratulations — nobody can judge you for doing a few squats in the kitchen.
And please do not make this complicated. You do not need another wellness gadget. You do not need a special desk treadmill. You do not need to “movement snackMAXX” anything because I swear if the internet turns standing up into another wellness trend, I am quitting. Just move.
My two weeks of continuing education have taught me plenty of new information that I will hopefully use to become a better coach. But spending this much time sitting has also been a pretty effective reminder that sometimes health does not require another complicated protocol, another piece of equipment or another hour-long workout. Sometimes your body is asking for something much simpler.
Get out of the damn chair.
