Where do your sitting hours come from?
Where in the world do all those hours of sitting actually come from? Our hours of sitting quickly add up to a shocking total because so much of our life revolves around sitting.
28 July, 2017
inactivity Tag
- All Categories
- Behavior Change
- Children's physical activity
- Corporate Wellness
- Health
- Inactivity Physiology
- Measurement Technology
- Muscle Activity Measurement
- Personal Training
- Sedentary Behavior
- Social Relationships
- Strength Training
- Weight Management
The First Steps to the Everyday Exercise Revolution (Part 3)
The modern work culture thinks our bodies are a joke. The worst enemies for everyday exercise are our chairs, cars, televisions, computer, elevators, escalators, and our overall busy lives. Has our innate need for comfort selected a sitting society as its undisputed favorite way to live? There are, fortunately, many friends of everyday activity including: bicycles, sidewalks, trails by lakes,...
30 September, 2014
The First Steps to the Everyday Exercise Revolution (Part 2)
A growing number of individuals feel it necessary to bridge the gap to a more ecologically friendly lifestyle by embracing natural foods, recycling and using public transportation. Almost everything in our lives can be made more natural or ecologically friendly. Unfortunately, this natural and ecologically friendly way of living is not often connected to that central masterpiece that should be...
29 September, 2014
The First Steps to the Everyday Exercise Revolution (Part 1)
“Natural” is the ‘in’ word and current trend. Perhaps the popularity of “natural” stems from a certain form of yearning; yearning for “the old days”, when people lived in harmony with the land and the land was respected and directed our decisions every day. At the same time, this popularity describes our true life. We no longer feel that we are...
27 September, 2014
The Technological Revolution
The mind is smart - it tries to do everything as easily and efficiently as possible. On the other hand, you might say that the mind is lazy, because when given the choice, it usually picks the easiest method for us to live. If technology was developed specifically to make work more difficult or demanding or to consume more of...
18 September, 2014
Sitting is “IN” (Part 4) – The Digital Age
The popularity of sitting is not entirely due to how easy it is. The internet, television, and videogames are all available in front of you as soon as you take a seat. Sitting is the gateway to the new digital age - the digital age that has consumed us all. All the knowledge in the world these days can be...
09 September, 2014
Sitting is “IN” (Part 3) – You Can Sit Anywhere and Everywhere
There is little need for muscle activity these days, but there is just as little opportunity for muscle activity. The sitting position is a dominant, wanted, and suggested position to complete just about anything. Can you even think of standing while in a meeting or waiting your turn at the bank? Sitting is so popular because it is easy, there...
05 September, 2014
Sitting is “IN” (Part 2) – The Past
Have you ever thought about how things used to be? Only a few decades ago people walked or biked to work and school. Our grandparents did their work with their hands and their feet, not with their "sitting muscles". Children played outside and climbed trees rather than spending their evenings in front of the television or the computer. Coffee was...
03 September, 2014
#Sitting is “IN” (Part 1) – Do You Sit?
Think for a moment about your typical day. You awake in the morning and sit at the kitchen table for breakfast. Perhaps after that you walk a few meters to your car and drive to work - where you sit. Lunchtime is great because you can take a break from the stress of work and you can get away from...
11 August, 2014
The #Wonders of the #DigitalAge
What about our free time? Fortunately the amount that people participate in physical activity in their free time has increased, at least according to questionnaires. This has had at least a small positive effect on our bodies that typically suffer from sitting all day. Unfortunately, this is not the whole truth. The more energy that we save from technology and automation,...
09 August, 2014
The #Motorized #Commute – Sedentary Kilometers
While the decrease in daily energy expenditure in our working environments can explain, in part, the obesity epidemic, the other parts of our daily life are not without blame. At work we sit and move primarily just our fingers, so maybe it is a good idea to increase our daily energy expenditure via our daily commute. Unfortunately, during the last 35...
05 August, 2014
Our Work Days as Caged Monkeys (Part 2) – Changing times
In the 1960s almost half of jobs required moderate physical activity. Nowadays, only 20% of jobs require at least moderate physical activity. It is no surprise that four out of five Finns does their work sitting in front of a screen. These days, making the grade at work is about being smart and less about having endurance, strength and skills. Here...
04 August, 2014
Our Work Days as Caged #Monkeys (Part 1) – The Past
Work has traditionally been a significant part of our lives and our identity. Professions have been passed on from fathers to sons for generations while both physical labor and handcraft have been valued. At the same time, physical labor has played a significant role in our daily energy expenditure. Think about how men used to work long hours in the...
03 August, 2014
The Energy Hamburger (Part 2) – You Don’t Need to #Workout
Expending energy includes a lot more than just recreational exercise. We can do shoulder shrugs for other reasons than to simply indicate our lack of knowledge. In other words, we can exercise every day. Researchers in the USA asked approximately 10000 people what they do during a 24 hour period. Subjects reported all of their activity from driving in the car to...
01 August, 2014
The Energy Hamburger (Part 1) – #Exercise More, #Eat Less, Still #Fat?
Let’s examine the energy equation from the perspective of spending energy. As I told you before, the number of adults participating in recreational physical activity is larger than ever before. According to questionnaires used in studies the number of adults that participate in recreational physical activity at least twice per week has increased from approximately 40% to 70% in the...
30 July, 2014
Energy Crisis (Part 4) – It is not just about #overweight/#obesity
Overweight is no longer a valued ideal but a prevailing condition. Ideals have changed. The worshiping of a round belly has given way to a craving to lose weight and be thin. These changes have made overweight a favorite topic in the health and wellness sector and an extremely important part of health marketing. People want to lose weight. Thankfully,...
24 July, 2014
Energy Crisis (Part 3) – Why are we getting fat?
Basically, weight gain is the result of an imbalance between energy consumption and energy expenditure. This balance is partly regulated by our genetics, our environment, and psychosocial factors. One, or many of these factors, has gotten members of our society to consume more than we expend, or to expend less than we consume. At the same time we have noticed...
22 July, 2014
Energy Crisis (Part 1) – Changing Times
At the same time as the offerings of the new virtual age are developing beyond our understanding, our waistlines are expanding at such a rate that statistics can barely keep up. Overweight/obesity is a hot topic that evokes a number of different responses. Overweight may cause feelings of shame and consumes the thoughts of many. Sometimes these feelings lead to...
20 July, 2014
I’m going to tell you a #story about #sitting
I will admit, I sit most of the time that I am writing this blog. You are probably sitting as you read it. Hopefully, however, you will stand up after reading a few paragraphs. Traditionally, the solution to the problem of passive living has been exercise, however, perfectly planned, goal-oriented, encouraging and colorful training plans have not inspired the vast majority of...
15 July, 2014
