Here at Walker Tracker, we are great advocates for building activity, especially walking, into your daily life. Can you just imagine the Walker Tracker team walking on treadmills while we’re setting up your competitions and managing the site? Well, not quite yet, but this may be the future solution to sedentary jobs:
Wouldn’t it be great if there was an easy way to work and walk at the same time? It is no easy task managing a full time job, a family, other priorities and finding the time to walk 10,000 steps a day. Sometimes you have to schedule time to walk into your planner.
Most people work sedentary jobs, sitting for a majority of their nine-to-five work day. Ideally, we are all able to fit in exercise daily, in reality most people don’t. The risks associated with inactivity are obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc. According to the Surgeon General, nearly eighty-five percent of these diseases could be prevented through regular exercise and a healthy diet.
If your health isn’t enough to motivate you to move, how about your money? Diabetes costs $90 billion annually in medical costs! That’s not even taking into consideration the $40 billion annually is spent on indirect costs from the disease, i.e. disability, loss of work, death.
Still need more motivation to get on the move? Check out this article:
http://www.suite101.com/content/deadly-cost-of-physical-inactivity-a19241
It may scare you into running!
If you don’t have the $500 to buy a trekdesk, consider adding more activity into your life in other ways. Today, make an effort to try at least one of these things:
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
- Park farther away from the entrance
- If you take the bus, get off a stop before yours and walk the rest
- If possible, walk or bike to work
- Deliver messages in person, instead of calling or emailing a co-worker, walk to their desk.
- Take a break from work and walk around the block
- Utilize your lunch break to get more activity in your day- hit the gym, go on a jog or walk, or if your short on time just hit the stairs for 15 minutes.
- Do your own yard work
- Get up during T.V. commercials to walk around, do squats or pushups, or jog in place
- Play with your kids or pets
- Take the longest route when putting away clean laundry
- Once you get home after a long day at work, before you sit down again or eat anything, put on a favorite song and dance or do jumping jacks to get some energy for the rest of your day.
- Pack your exercise clothes the night before so you will have no excuses to ditch the gym.
- Pace or take a stroll while you talk on phone
- Switch up your idea of fun, if its going out to eat followed by a movie, kick up your routine and try glow bowling, miniature golf, or rent some bikes and bike to a restaurant.
Good luck and get out there!