How to Stop Living a Sedentary Lifestyle?

One of the significant upsurging public health issue, sedentary lifestyle, is associated with a range of chronic health conditions and is increasingly extensive in all nations. Sedentary lifestyle is a way of living your regular days spending most of the time inactive, sitting, resting, sleeping with low energy expenditure. Sedentary behavior can be depressing and full of anxiety too with leads to mental health issues as well. According to US government’s 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, adults should spend 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical workout or activities each week. The idea of living an active lifestyle is quite challenging and might sound backbreaking for the sedentary life inhabitants. However, the myriad benefits are huge and healthful. Modern and technological advances are undoubtedly making lives easier and saving huge time but these advancements are taking a great toll on humans’ health compelling them to lead inactive, lazy and luxurious lifestyle. Claimed by few research studies in year 2010, inactivity and sitting for prolonged period, more than four hours per day remarkably maximizes the risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, obesity and obesity related diseases. So, if you’re the one who sits all day on the couch being a lazy ass eating popcorn and watching Netflix, it’s high time to stop living this sedentary lifestyle.

Here are some effective tips and ideas to work through inactiveness and leading a pro-active lifestyle:

1. Reducing the time of sitting and reclining

First thing first, its high time, get up and move your body more than usual. Reduce your sitting and reclining timings. Spend more time in standing, running, walking or any other activities that involves physical activities. Once, you stop being lazy, you gradually get on the track towards being more active and dedicated for a health life.

2. Increasing workout sessions

Yeah, workout is must. But for you guys, it’s going to take a whole lot of effort. Increase the time of the workout sessions and increase the intensity as well. Push your yourself, push hard and try your limits. Set small goals to achieve every week, increase duration every week, intensity once in two weeks. These small steps would lead you towards more active and healthy life making you confident and motivated.

3 Finding reasons to move more

Just the way you used to find excuses to sit more or relax more, find excuses and reasons to move your body more often. Do your household chores, wash your clothes on your won, do the dishes, clean the corner of your house or apartment, clean your kitchen counter top, or go plant tress in your garden, water your plants, trim the branches and leaves, do anything but sitting, relaxing and reclining, if it’s not your actual sleeping time. These super active efforts are definitely going to help you to stop living sedentary lifestyle.

4. Taking stairs

All this time, being a super lazy ass, you skipped stairs, took cabs and drove your own car to avoid sweating. So, gone those time of being laid back. Take stairs instead of elevators if you need to reach your floor, your apartment. Start sweating a little bit, it’s not gonna hurt you. Remember, be a pro-active.

5. Take walk for office or stores

No more cabs, no more driving or ordering home delivery. Get up, move yourself. Go walking to your office rather than driving your car or taking a cab. The idea is to stay active all the possible way you can. This practice even also helps in getting good quality sleep. 

6. Take frequent breaks from sitting

If your work is dependent on desk work which demands more sitting all day, take breaks every 30 minutes of working straight. Walk to the loo, get your own coffee or tea. Do 10 quick push ups or 30 seconds plank and get back to your work. This way you keep yourself active even sitting for a long time but without getting any negative effects.

7. Spend spare time in physical activities

If you have some spare time at work or at home, indulge in physical activities. Clean and organize your wardrobe, organize your living area, do the dusting of your little personal library. Even if you’re at work, go for a walk outside, cafeteria or even the garden. Keep yourself busy and distracted from being lazy and laid back.

8. Walk while attending calls on phones

Usually when we get or make calls and attend it, we just tend to sit and relax and talk indolently. Better walk while taking your calls. Don’t just sit. It would remind you of the comfort of being lazy and inactive which is indeed harmful for your health. Even if you’re inside in your cabin, keep walking on rounds. This effective habit will help you to stop living a sedentary lifestyle.

9. Ditch your car, not literally

Take it seriously. The only person who can help you to stay active is you. And unless you understand the gravity of it, you won’t be able to achieve it. Take walk to your office, general stores, your friend’s apartment or take extra walk around your block. Never brings your keys when you live home unless it’s too necessary or a real long distance to cover.

10. Change your work-station

Your work station makes a huge difference. People spend most of their days’ time in office. Hence, to skip sitting all the day, design your work desks as a standing desk with height adjusting levers in both chairs and desks. 

Recommended:

• How Stand Up Desks Are Changing How People Work
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• Benefits of Standing Desk

11. Stand-up while working

Standing desk help to stand and work with a convenient high of desk to work easily without putting strain on your shoulders, hands and backbones. Even, health experts have to say standing helps in losing weight and increasing life longevity. Re-design your working desk and do your office work while standing sit when tired and repeat the process.

12. Get rid of your maids and servants

People have been so busy these days that they hire maids and servants to do their household chores to save time and cope up with their hectic life schedules to juggle between personal and professional life. But doing so, comes with a great impact and adverse effects making you lousy, lazy and inactive. To stop living a sedentary lifestyle, give your maids and servants a real long break. Do your household chores on your own. Stay active and busy to spend less time in sitting and reclining.

13. Get a fitness tracker

Technology has made us lazy and so laid back that we forget how to use it in the right way to get right advantages. Get yourself a fitness tracker or a fitness smart watch to keep solid tracking of your walking steps, physical activities, the covered walking distance, amount of calories burnt, rate of heart beat to get more motivated and determined to stay healthy and drop the idea of living an inactive life.

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