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Move It Monday – The Fountain of Youth

Interested in reducing your risk for cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and dementia?

Study after study is concluding that regular exercise is the only well-established fountain of youth, and it’s free.

Today’s Personal Health column in the NYT has a really nicely researched article about the many, many health benefits of exercise to defend against both physical and cognitive deterioration.

My Move It Monday for this week is short and sweet. I want you to read about how you can use consistent exercise program reduce your odds of breast cancer 16%, reduce your odds of a stroke by 40%, and significantly cut your chances of developing diabetes, osteoporosis, and dementia.

Filed Under: Health

Move It Monday – Move More, Move Often

By Jen Waak 1 Comment

Healthy Monday

“Too much sitting is bad for health.”

This is from a recent study that you may have already seen, but it certainly bears repeating.

In short, for each hour we spend in front of the TV:

11% increase in death (from all causes)
9% increase in cancer death
18% increase in cardiovascular death

“Compared with people who watched less than two hours of television daily, those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes and an 80 percent increased risk for cardiovascular-related death.”

While the study focused primarily on TV, you can logically extend the study to any prolonged sedentary behavior (and yes, that includes the computer). We simply aren’t meant to sit in one place for long periods of time. I know I talk a lot about how movement is the fountain of youth, but I believe it AND the science backs me up on it!

What can you do about it?

I tell my clients that I want them up and moving for at least 5 minutes every hour. While this may sound impossible for those of you working cubicle farms, here are some options:

get up and talk to a co-worker instead of emailing/calling
refill your water bottle or get a healthy snack
go to the restroom (which will be important if you are regularly refilling your water bottle)
make up some sort of errand
do some Z-Health mobility drills

This week, 5 minutes every hour. Your kids and grandkids will thank you!

Filed Under: Movement

Validating my love of sleeping

By Jen Waak Leave a Comment

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a BIG fan of sleeping. I claim I come by it honestly, as my 92-year-old grandfather still sleeps until 9am when he can — completely unheard of in the senior community. My grandmother did as well. They were teased for it endlessly by their friends, who were always up at 4 or 5 am.

The National Cancer Institute recently released a study that indicates there is increased risk of cancer among those who exercise but GET LESS THAN 7 HOURS OF SLEEP per night.

Among 4,033 women younger than 65 who had at least 20 hours of physical activity per week, those who slept less than seven hours nightly had a 47% higher risk of developing cancer (95% CI 5% to 105%) within the next 10 years, reported James J. McClain, Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute.

They go on to hypothesize that it has something to do with inflammation or DNA damage, but LOTS more research is required. In the meantime, I fully intend to use this study to validate my weekend sleep-ins.