Are you sitting down right now? Probably so! How often do you deny yourself breaks to remain at the desk or computer terminal for hours on end? Any prolonged sedentary activity works against you and can actually shorten your life.

Why? Because extended bouts of sitting is one of the worst things you can do for your body. In fact, a study published in the American Heart Association’s journal, Circulation, reports that for each extra hour watching television daily, the risk of death from heart disease increases 18%! Those who sit motionless in front of a TV (or computer) for at least four hours a day run an 80% increased risk of perishing from cardiovascular disease over those who watch the screen uninterrupted for two hours or less.

Significantly, the study’s control group met exercising guidelines throughout. And diet was not a factor contributing to these findings.

It seems counter-intuitive that those who exercise and eat sensibly are so affected. Evidently studies indicate a strong correlation between overall sedentary time and increased blood lipids, blood glucose and fat tissue. And this holds just as true for those who engage in moderate to vigorous activity numerous times during the week.

Fortunately, you can maintain your effectiveness and safeguard your health, as well. To reduce this particular set of risk factors, you needn’t set aside hours to exercise. All you need is “Movement Moments” – a minute here and there, to break up periods of sitting. Something this simple helps convert the cholesterol in your blood from LDL (the bad cholesterol) into HDL (the healthy kind).

That’s not all. Numerous brief breaks spent in motion, flexing muscles and stretching also helps lower the body mass index, reduce the size of one’s waist, and promotes more effective metabolism of glucose as well as lowering blood lipid levels. Easy, fast and free!

Movement Moments Are a Time-Wise Solution

Every 45 minutes or so, try creating brief Movement Moments for yourself. Use a timer if that helps jog your memory. At 45-minute intervals stop what you are doing, get up, and move in whatever way feels good to you. (Do this in privacy, if you can, so that you don’t feel constrained.) Try these, and add your favorites:

Nine Fast And Free Exercise Bursts

1. Lift weights, large or small

2. Ascend and descend stairways.

3. Dance

4. Jumping jacks

5. Leg lunges

6. Leg lifts or situps

7. Stretching

8. Shaking tension from your arms and legs

9. Whatever feels right at the moment!

Do the movements you choose vigorously for about a minute; then you can return to work refreshed. It hardly interrupts your flow, and your energy flows more freely.

As you give yourself the gift of Movement Moments throughout your day, notice how they affect your energy, focus, and productivity. Try keeping track of this for a week, and see what you discover!

And to energize and mobilize yourself, sign up for our free Finding Time Success Kit, with “The New Finding Time Boundary Template: 9 Steps to Find More Time & Recharge Your Energy!”

This time template plus workbook will help you move beyond disappointment, and overwhelm. You’ll find 24 hours really are enough! Offered to you by Paula Eder, the Time Finder Expert.

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