Momentum Issue 39: Walk for 2 minutes, every hour

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Importance

By now, I think we all know that sitting is the new smoking.

We live in a sedentary society - we sit in the car on the way to work, sit at our desks until lunchtime, sit in the lunchroom to eat our lunch, sit at our desks some more, sit in the car on the way home, and then we come home and sit on the couch or in bed.

Sitting too much can lead to so many health issues:

“[T]oo much sitting could shorten your life. Studies in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Asia have all found an association between increased sedentary time and the risk of early death. These associations were independent of traditional risk factors such as smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, waist circumference and diet.” - Chris Kresser

Furthermore, doing a workout at some point during the day isn’t enough to mitigate these detrimental consequences. The key is that we need to sit less.

Fortunately, walking for as little as 2 minutes each hour has been shown to counteract the harmful impacts of sitting. In fact, researchers found that simply walking for 2 minutes can reduce your risk of dying from all causes by a third.

Implementation

Go for a 2 minute walk each hour.

If you can’t walk, simply standing up will be hugely beneficial as well.

If walking is too boring, you can instead use any other form of movement. You really just need to move your body for 2 minutes. You can try:

  • Yoga or stretching

  • Push ups

  • Sit ups

  • Kettlebell swings

  • Air squats

  • Lunges

  • Pull ups

  • Jumping jacks

  • Walk up a flight of stairs

Aim to do this at the top of each hour so it’s easier to remember. Set a timer if you have to. Drink a whole bottle of water so you have to get up to use the bathroom. Do whatever you have to do to ensure you’re up and moving every single hour. (This includes while you’re watching TV!).

Before you go

As I announced last week, my ebook, Habits for Better Sleep recently came out on Amazon.

It’s at a special release price of $2.99, which will be increasing from tomorrow. If you or anyone you know is looking to improve their sleep, I recommend giving it a read! It’s short and highly actionable, so you won’t spend a lot of time reading through information that you can’t apply right away.

You can find the book here.

Also, if you’ve been considering signing up for a Medium Membership, you can do so via this link:

Anyone who signs up through this link will directly support my writing.

Here are free links to some Medium articles, if you’re looking for something to read this week:

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