Photo from Unsplash by Alora Griffiths
Plenty of people spend their days walking the path of least resistance. They take the escalator when there are stairs, they drive down the block rather than walk, they do any number of things that allows them to remain comfortable.
But we live in a comfortable world, and consistently choosing comfort is detrimental to the overall health and fitness. Even if we exercise, sitting too long can result in overall poor health — higher chances of cardiovascular disease, cancer incidence, and type 2 diabetes as well as a higher risk of death from all-causes.
So What Can We Do?
Do the things that suck — the harder thing, the thing you least want to do. Walk places, take the stairs, do chores instead of watching TV, do yard work, get off your phone and play with your kids…
Moving around in ways unrelated to exercise is called NEPA (Non-Exercise Physical Activity) and has been shown time and time again to have a significant impact on health and longevity. High levels of NEPA are correlated with increased hearth health and longevity, lower levels of obesity, and can even be used to help treat depression. Even more, short burst of higher intensity NEPA, like walking uphill, riding a bike somewhere, or carrying heavy bags has numerous health advantages compared to low intensity NEPA alone.
Got Any Examples?
Of course! What good would this article be without some sort of list of advice at the end?
Add a little extra distance when you can — park farther away, walk to the next mailbox, get off the train or bus one stop early, etc.
Take the stairs when you can — this is an obvious and recurring one. Consider that a stair case often counts as higher intensity NEPA, and reap the benefits.
Load and unload your own bars at the gym — this one is sort of cheating because you’re already working out, but it’s an easy way to add some unexpected work in there.
Drink more water. Seriously. It’s good for you, and if you drink a lot more, you pee a lot more, and you have to walk to and from the bathroom more.
Sleep more. Yeah, you heard me. While there is some evidence that lack of sleep can increase the risk for obesity, what’s more important is the fact that if you’re well rested your less liable to feel lazy and will go out and increase your NEPA without much intervention.
Carry as many groceries as you can in one single trip.
Fidget, dance, stand up, or do something besides sitting when doing idle activities like reading or watching TV. You could even switch to podcasts or audio books and go for a walk while you listen.
There are many more pieces of advice in every health advice column out there, so I won’t waste too much of your time.
tl;dr?
Taking the hard road, making that tough choice, benefits you in a number of ways. It’s how you learn to be resilient —weathering hard things makes it easier to weather hard things afterward. And when this resilience moves into the physical realm, you also improve your health and longevity. So make those hard choices now.
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