Don't Just Sit There

This is a key theme of the book.

We need to see that it’s the constant STATIC nature of our sitting position throughout the day that is causing the bulk of our problems.

The solution isn’t to simply stand more. If we do, we’d be swapping out one STATIC position for another—not solving the root of the problem and potentially creating other challenges.

What we want to do is create a DYNAMIC workstation such that we’re moving more—in TINY ways—throughout the day.

Now, is sitting the new smoking?

Katy says: “Sitting and smoking a different: sitting itself isn’t the creator of ill effects the way smoking a cigarette is. Sitting–the position—is perfectly harmless when ‘consumed’ appropriately. It’s not like putting your butt into a chair makes you ill; as they say, ‘it’s the dose that makes the poison.’”

So, short answer: No, it’s not.

She also says: “Language can also get us into trouble when we’re seeking solutions, because we keep equating sitting with not moving, but in many cases, the physical effects of sitting are just as much created by repetitive geometry (always sitting in the same way) as they are by the metabolic changes that come with being sedentary. So sitting differently can improve your health in the same way that standing can—which is great news for the millions of people who aren’t yet quite fit enough to stand for considerable amounts of time. Yes, even you—who want to change your risk profile for disease but feel trapped by your current physical limitations—can change how you sit and improve your health on a cellular level.”

Get this:

You can be active *and* sedentary.

As great (and important) as those intense workouts are, we need to remember to move T.H.R.O.U.G.H.O.U.T. the day.

It’s not enough to bust out a workout in the morning then hop in our cars, sit for our commute, walk to our desk and sit for the next x hours before hopping back in our cars and sitting down for dinner and TV.

We’ve gotta pack our days with DYNAMIC movement.

Let’s look at some ways to go about doing that.

P.S. But first: Are you looking for the perfect chair?

Here’s what Katy has to say about that: “I’m often asked for my recommendation for the best office chair, to which I have no good reply. What makes it good is the frequency with which you choose not to use it. Most of the problems with sitting all relate to the perpetual stillness, not the position itself. That being said, many times people are looking for a chair that makes their _______ (fill in the blank) feel better. I suggest you put your search efforts and spending dollars towards improving your musculoskeletal health through corrective exercise and alignment, not towards a device that makes your tissue weaknesses less uncomfortable. Discomfort is nature’s way of letting you know that something is wrong and again, it’s not necessarily the way you’ve been sitting that’s hurting you (although yes, the way you sit can certainly give rise to problems) but the heaps and heaps of time you have spent sitting.”

Hah. What makes a chair great is how little you sit in it. Love it.

Check out the book for more details, but know that Katy recommends a flat, kitchen table type of chair rather than a bucket seat to help with optimal alignment.

Plus: Katy has certified teachers to help you learn how to move properly. Find them here. (I’m excited to start my training soon. :)

That’s from a section in which Katy gives us a bunch of little movements we can do while actually working—calf stretches, weight shifting, foot stretches and some eye ball training we’ll get to in a moment.

The primary point here is that we don’t need to go nuts at the gym to boost our movement quotient.

Tiny little micro movements are HUGE in creating a more dynamic work environment. Our bodies and cells eat it up.

Michelle Segar—one of the world’s leading researchers focused on the science of how to create motivation to engage in healthy behaviors—talks about a similar idea in her great book No Sweat. She tells us we need to look for “opportunities to move” throughout our day.

Here’s how she puts it: “Finding opportunities to move (my clients abbreviate this as OTMs, so I will too) throughout the day is surprisingly fun. You’ll be amazed at how soon you begin to become aware of the free spaces in the day that present themselves and the surprising places that are conducive to movement. You may think that your day is crammed so full that you can’t fit in one more thing, but believe me: It’s not true. If you’ve got one minute, you’ve got time.”

<— OTMs. They’re small but big.

Katy describes something similar: “Also, you’ll want to build small actual walks across the earth during your work day–walk for three minutes every half hour of your eight-hour work day, and you’ll have been moving for an extra forty-eight minutes every day. (I cannot even tell you how much these three-minute ‘health’ breaks add up. They really do!) Spend your lunch hour and breaks in motion and you’ll be doing even better.”

How about a quick inventory of the range of possible movements?

Let’s call our possibilities: micro + mini + macro.

• Micro movements include something as simple as stretching your calf while at a standing desk or changing your sitting position (I just pulled a foot up on my chair while I sit and type this—go me!). The key here is to shift from STATIC to DYNAMIC.
• Mini-movements include Segar’s OTMs—those little opportunities to do a little bit more movement through our day. They add up in significant ways. Katy also shares a bunch of mini-movements we can do while taking little breaks from work at work—things like nerve stretches where you extend your arms out with your palms out and your fingers pointing up. (Feel that? Ahhh…) We want to find opportunities for mini-movements throughout the day—scoring more points for DYNAMIC awesomeness.
• Macro-movements include our typical get-your-sweat-on exercise sessions. These are important (of course!!) but remember that, unless we embrace the micro- + mini- movements, we can be active yet still sedentary.

How can YOU optimize each of your movement categories a little more today?

Micro-movements: ________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________.

Mini-movements: ________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________.

Macro-movements: ________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________.

Get on that!

Your eyeballs have muscles.

We need to flex them if we want them to stay healthy.

If all we do all.day.long is stare at a screen (or book or whatever) 20 inches away from our face, we’re strengthening that group of muscles and weakening the longer-range focus muscles.

So, we’ve gotta cross train the old eyeballs by remembering to look up and out at distant sites.

Our new eye training routine: Let’s look beyond our computers with at least a quick glance every five minutes and more extended gazes every 30 minutes.

I just took a quick peek at the mountains that are a few miles away outside my office window.(And will be doing so much more often and deliberately from now on.)

You? How’re you going to train your eyeballs?

This is from a section in which Katie shares a story of research she did on baby sea turtles in Cancun. Apparently, right after being born, these little guys are (supposed to be) guided by the light of the moon into the sea. Since the bright lights from the hotels on the beach showed up, many have been unable to “seafind” their way to their home in the ocean—with many dying on the beach or in the hotel’s pools.

The point is clear: ALL ANIMALS suffer when we allow artificial lighting into our lives at night. PERIOD.

We talk about this a lot in Optimal Sleep 101.

For now, remember this wisdom from Shawn Stevenson’s Sleep Smarter where he tells us that eliminating screen time at night is THE (!) #1 way to optimize your sleep: “This is likely the number one thing you can do to improve your sleep quality immediately. The artificial blue light emitted by electronic screens triggers your body to produce more daytime hormones (like cortisol) and disorient your body’s natural preparation for sleep. Computers, iPads, televisions, smartphones, etc. are kicking out a sleep-sucking blue spectrum of light that can give you major sleep problems.”

Be nice to your melatonin. Turn off the bright lights.

Want to be creative? Get outside and go for a walk.

Katy talks about how she walks during all her business phone calls—from interviews to contract negotiations. Back in the non-hermit days when I had more meetings/phone calls, I LOVED walking meetings.

Remember: Nature + movement = powerful.

We’ve talked about this in a bunch of Notes. In Brain Power, Michael Gelb tells us about research at the University of Michigan in which creativity was boosted by simply walking through the arboretum rather than downtown.

In Creativity on Demand, Gelb tells us: “Contemporary science is beginning to validate the intuitive understanding of these great minds. In a study conducted … a group of fifty-six people who spent four to six days on an Outward Bound nature experience, disconnected from all electronics, showed a 50 percent increase on creativity tests. A follow-up study found that spending just three hours in nature led to a 20 percent improvement. As naturalist John Muir reminds us, ‘Climb the mountains and get their good tidings; nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares drop off like autumn leaves.’”

Note to self: Let’s get outside and move. :)

Those are the last words of the book.

We need to (/get to? :) work for a living. Can’t go back to being wild. And… There are a TON of little things we can do to optimize our approach to our work and lives.

So… What little things can you do to dial in a little more today?