Stop making excuses

I enjoy mocking researchers who spend vast amounts of time and money investigating the blindingly obvious. This week a new study has revealed that office workers are sitting down too much. Astonishing!

According to the study, office workers spend almost 30 minutes more sitting down each day than the elderly.

Apparently middle-aged men are the most sedentary - the average time sitting down each day for 45 to 54-year-old men is seven hours and 48 minutes, which is 24 minutes longer than older pensioners.

Women don’t do much better – an average of seven hours and 24 minutes sitting down on weekdays.

I very much doubt if the results of this survey came as a surprise to anyone who works in an office. As I said in an earlier post (The Dangers of Sitting), a sedentary lifestyle does bad things to the body. I would say at least half of my clients come to me because of the consequences of sitting down for long hours.

But do we do enough to help ourselves? I’ve lost count of the number of people who have told me that they like to exercise but they’re so busy at work, they’ve not done any for some time. I have limited sympathy with this excuse.

Exercise is what rescues us from the damage done to the body when we sit for long hours. It also releases chemicals that keep our minds bright and balanced. You simply have to make room for it in your life – it’s more important than any work deadline. In fact, exercising will help you meet your deadlines. Find something you enjoy and do it. You don’t need a pool or a gym or a track. Following an exercise class online in your own living room is an excellent way of keeping fit. A friend of mine is a very fit 70 year old whose only workout is working on her allotment.

Exercise will also make you feel younger right into old age – long after you’ve stopped going into the office each day.