IMMUNITY LESSON 11- Walking is our Secret Sauce. Sitting is our Kryptonite.

IMMUNITY LESSON 11
Walking is our Secret Sauce. Sitting is our Kryptonite.

We ARE WIRED TO MOVE

We ARE WIRED TO MOVE, but we spend most of our time sitting. For eons, our ancestors were moving and walking 12-16 hours a day. You guessed it: Sitting is stressful for our bodies, and in several insidious ways.

And, we just don’t feel our best after sitting all day. Movement generates neurotransmitters that cause us to feel good, to be enthusiastic, boost our immune system, and to be energetic in our approach to life. In the absence of movement, these feel-good chemicals are not there. Our muscles stiffen up. Energy is at low tide. We have all felt it before.

These days, we are not fortunate enough to have the opportunity to spend an hour at the gym after work. Even if we did, it still doesn’t undo the hours and hours of sitting. The negative effects of prolonged sitting have been equated to smoking cigarettes by some healthcare experts.

IT IS THAT BAD.

The Solution

MORE FREQUENT MOVEMENT throughout the day will at least partially address the deleterious effects of prolonged sitting. We need to create times to move during the day and that is exactly what this lesson and the attached pdf are about.

We just need to find those activities involving movement we enjoy. And, sometimes, we need to forgo the “movement saving” conveniences so that we can get more movement back into our lives. Just creating strategies to move will combat stress. We must use our creative pre-frontal cortex rather than our reactive “lizard brain” to create opportunities to move while at work, home, or anytime.

More frequent movement throughout the day will at least partially address the deleterious effects of prolonged sitting.

• Some are obvious: Take the stairs, park the car so you walk a few extra steps or blocks, etc.
• Some are not obvious: Get up and move every 20-25 minutes or so. Set your timer to remind you if necessary. Download tomato-timer.com and go to Settings to program it to remind you to take a break from the computer. More on this will be covered in the attached pdf.
• If you’re exercising routinely, you’re ahead of the game. Keep it up. Add the movement principles to your day and you’ll be on your way to thriving. If you don’t exercise routinely, start. You don’t have to join a gym. Just follow our movement principles and suggestions.

Walking is the “secret sauce.”

It’s how our ancestors exercised, and we are wired to walk. They did not go to the gym. It is a great time to experience “me time” and relax as well.

Download a pedometer app to your phone and keep track of your steps. This is a proven way to increase your steps as you develop a contest with your own self. A pedometer or Pedometer++ for Android and iPhone, respectively.

You can set your step length in the app, even. Track your steps for a couple of days and then add 10% each subsequent day. To keep the mental math simple, approximate the added steps by rounding off liberally. Ex.: 3400 steps one day, then add another 300 the next day as your goal.