According to the physical activity standard, you should exercise moderately intensively for half an hour every day, for at least five days a week. Recently, something has been added: strength training and less sitting. With these tips you are a lot less.
Measure your sitting behavior
Sitting less and moving more: that requires a change in behaviour. Start by mapping your behavior. Take a notepad and write down all the activities you do on an ordinary day. Always state whether you are sitting, and how long that takes. Add up all the sitting minutes. If you sit for more than 420 minutes a day (7 hours), that is much more than is good for your health. Then you look for alternatives to limit your sitting behaviour. Watching television, reading, listening to music, using the computer and talking: we mainly do all these activities while sitting. But you can also do them standing up. Because it is precisely by doing everyday things more actively that you make the most profit.
Sit less behind the computer
Sending an e-mail, viewing photos, reading the newspaper on the iPad: it can all be done alternately standing and sitting. Make standing easy. Use an iPad stand. Or turn a wine box into a platform for the table. Put on flat shoes and bring a nice pair of shoes to work. Because the easier you stand, the better it is to keep up.
Sit less in front of the TV
Stand up at every break. Advertising or the start of a new program? They are signals to get up and move for a while. Move the remote a little further away. And do the same with the phone. This way you force yourself to get off the couch more often.
Sitting less during a visit
We like to catch up with family and friends. You can of course make calls while standing or even walking through the house. But when you have visitors, you usually sit. Therefore, leave the coffee pot and the biscuit tin in the kitchen and create a moment of movement.
Sitting less during hobbies
Reading, painting, listening to or making music: this can also be done while standing. Secure the music rest at standing height. This way you don’t forget to stand when you pick up your flute. Place your book in a cookbook stand and place the canvas on an easel.
This article originally appeared in Plus Magazine October 2017. Not yet a Plus Magazine subscriber? Becoming a subscriber is done in no time!
