This is how you break the sedentary lifestyle
Set a timer for 30 minutes to remind you to get up and stretch or squat.
Walk and talk – have a walking meeting at work or take a walk when you have to make a call anyway.
Be active. Do exercises while sitting down at work or on the bus. For example: Step up and down with your feet 20 times or walk in place while still sitting. Lift your knees as high as you can from the chair, repeat 20 to 30 times.
Stand up during the TV commercial break.
Stand on one leg and brush your teeth.
Do some standing push-ups as you pass a door jamb.
Always skip the elevator and take the stairs instead.
Make the bell, that is, stand on one leg with the other leg free in the air and put your toe down lightly at 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on.
Aim to take at least 7,000 steps per day.
Source: Every movement counts (government office).
Men do it more than women, preschoolers do it almost as much as their parents and we do it both at work and at home. So sitting.
“We sit so much these days that even regular exercise does not compensate for the risks of being sedentary,” says Mai-Lis Hellenius, professor of cardiovascular prevention and researcher at Karolinska Institutet.
She is also an expert in the Committee for the promotion of increased physical activity, which was appointed by the government to break the sedentary lifestyle and promote everyday movement.
Lifestyle professor Mai-Lis Hellenius always takes the stairs. Archive image.
Adult Swedes sit for over nine hours per day, the Eurobarometer shows. It certainly also shows that we are at the top when it comes to training, but it is not enough to erase the negative effects of sitting.
Men sit mostly
— We place ourselves at the top of the EU in terms of sedentary behavior, according to several different surveys. Surveys with activity monitors show that Swedish men in upper middle age sit an average of 9.9 hours per day. That it is an average means that half of them sit more than that, says Mai-Lis Hellenius.
Energy consumption during various activities.
The corresponding figure for women of the same age is 9.3 hours per day. 5-year-olds, who normally have a lot of running in their legs, now sit for nine hours a day.
— Running in the legs is on the way out, notes Mai-Lis Hellenius.
— Today there are many things that take steps out of our lives, the screen and electric scooters are just two examples.
Increases abdominal obesity
At the same time, it is common that people who are asked in studies about how much they sit usually underestimate the time by two hours, while overestimating the time spent exercising.
— So you can safely say that we are sitting more than ever now, says Mai-Lis Hellenius.
But does it really matter and if so is it better to stand still than to sit still? Mai-Lis Hellenius answers yes to both questions:
— When we sit still, certain functions in the body go down to a minimum. Energy consumption drops and the risk of dangerous abdominal obesity increases. The enzymes that break down blood fats work less well and more sugar circulates in the blood, she says.
Health risks
Already after four hours of daily sitting, the risk of ill health begins to rise, and at nine hours of sitting it increases steeply. If, on the other hand, we stand up and do some toe-ups, the functions go up again. In addition, thousands of beneficial proteins begin to flow in the body.
— Some of them have a pain- and inflammation-relieving effect, others are antidepressants or invigorating. Just standing up is a little better than sitting, although it’s not good to stand still for a long time either.
So it doesn’t take much to break the negative spiral. Physical activity includes anything you do that burns more calories than if we are completely still.
Exercise on the chair
Mai-Lis Hellenius recommends that those who sit down get up every half hour.
“Do a few squats or some other movement for a couple of minutes, that’s enough,” she says.
If you have a job where you are forced to sit for long periods, for example if you drive a bus, sit at the cash register or in a meeting, you can do seated exercises.
— Do a seated abdominal exercise by pressing your back against the back of the chair, for example. Every movement counts, even those you do while sitting.
Employers have a big responsibility when it comes to breaking the sedentary lifestyle.
— They must ensure that you can actually take breaks and stretch your legs regularly. It’s a pure win for the employer because you become more productive and creative from movement breaks, says Mai-Lis Hellenius.
Walking meetings
Workplaces should also modernize their meeting culture, she believes. Walk and talk meetings where you walk around the meeting are an example. Having only standing tables in the meeting room is another.
— At Karolinska Institutet, we have stepped up walking loops for various long meetings. Such signals encourage movement, says Mai-Lis Hellenius.
If opportunities for movement breaks are conspicuous by their absence, you can sit actively instead. It matters how you sit. Being mentally active while sitting is better for health than sitting passively watching TV, among other things it prevents depression, research shows. Other ways to sit actively are to sit and read a book, play games or do manual work.
Need to sit too
But if for one reason or another you are forced to sit for a long time without any opportunity to move?
— A walk at lunch or after work can offset the negative effects of sitting to some extent. Although walking and exercise cannot completely compensate for sitting still, any movement is better than none, says Mai-Lis Hellenius.
But it must not go to exaggeration either, sometimes we actually need to sit down and do nothing too, especially if we have a physically active job. And it is not intended that everyday movement should feel challenging or contribute to even more health stress.
— It’s about finding a balance.