Is sitting the new smoking?

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The first I heard of this was last week, when a friend of mine told me about a sign he saw in a subway station in London. Makes you want to get up and go do something, doesn't it?

We've known this for years - that moving your body is good for you. I feel it when I work out. I see it when I don't. I especially notice it in my aging, sedentary family members. This article from Forbes, Is Sitting the New Smoking? is a good one. They cover more than just sitting - check it out when you have the chance, and feel free to check out the snippets below:

“Losing four hours of sleep is comparable to drinking a six-pack of beer ,” says Tom Rath, Author of the New York Times bestselling book, Eat Move Sleep. “I don’t want to be in a serious meeting with a person who drank six beers or lost four hours of sleep. I don’t want my child’s teacher to be that person. I don’t want my doctor to be that person. Still, we don’t view the two scenarios (beer drinking and not sleeping) as equal. In fact, our culture views a person who needs sleep, as a person with a weakness. In fact, in the business world, many professionals take pride in burning the midnight oil.” 

"Our culture has spent a lot of time talking about how not to be sick—don’t smoke, and don’t eat junk food. We also talk a lot about how healthy habits prevent disease. But most people don’t talk about how healthy habits improve you—your energy, your focus, your mood, and your performance.” 

[It] might be hard to digest if you spend your day in a chair. And, for those of you who have a ‘butts in chairs equals productivity’ mindset, Rath also mentioned that walking could increase energy levels by 150 percent. “Inactivity is dangerous,” he said, “In fact, some research shows inactivity now kills more people than smoking .” 

Here's another article on moving, titled Rise up against the Sitting Disease, from Reader's Digest, offering quick solutions to moving daily. A lot of these, I like. Some aren't feasible with aching joints, but the one I really appreciate is this:

Neaten up daily. Don’t wait until the weekend to clean your home; spend some time every day tidying up. Dusting, doing laundry, vacuuming, and washing windows can all use up about as many calories as taking a spin on a bicycle. An extra hour of cleanup per week burns enough calories to trim four or five pounds in a year.
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I like this because we personally try to do this in our house every day. Not necessarily the heavy duty cleaning like windows or bathrooms, but we do pick up every single evening. When I do it, I get a jolt physically - by lifting, sorting, organizing, and putting away. But equally as important, I see the mental benefits of keeping the house neat and tidy. It's good for the kids. It's good for me. It makes our home a nice, comfortable, environment to be in. It makes me more productive. It makes me feel more productive. It puts us at ease. It encourages conversation. It allows for creativity. It makes us happier, healthier people.

Clean and decluttered is essential in the Gorman household. In fact, one of my next reads will no doubt be the book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo. It gives me chills just thinking about it!

So, want to give cleaning up a go in your house, or maybe you're already decluttered for Spring?! Let me know your secrets, if so!