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Sandra Grunwaldt: Hello, this is Sandy Grunwald. I am your wellbeing and Engagement manager at San Juan Regional Medical Center. I am also a certified personal trainer and certified nutrition coach, and my passion and desire is to help everyone I work with take the best care of themselves so they can take care of everyone else. So today I'm honored to be with you to share what they say, the dangers of sitting all day. Some of us are paid to sit all day to accomplish the work we're intended to do here to meet our purpose. You've heard the dangers of sitting all day, but with most jobs, there are ways you can work around that, and that is my goal for you today, is to hear some of these options.

According to a new study, five minutes of light walking every half hour can help alleviate some of the increased risk that comes along with sitting for long stretches of your day. According to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, the scientific community has known for decades that sitting increases your risk of chronic diseases. And the study also says there are ways that we can avoid sitting for long periods of time and encourage us to move throughout our day.

We've known for probably about a decade now, that sitting increases your risk for most of these chronic diseases and increases your risk of even early death. Just like how many fruits and vegetables you should be eating, how much exercise you should be getting. We need to support each other and learning and giving guidance on how to combat all of the harms of sitting. So this walk can be as light or as slow of a pace as 1.9 miles per hour, which is actually slower than most people walk normally. Your goal is to break up your sitting with some type of movement.

Scientists don't yet understand why sitting is so bad, but the theory is that your muscles are important in regulating things like blood sugar and cholesterol levels. When you sit for too long, your muscles don't have the opportunity to contract and operate optimally. Does five minutes every half hour still sound like a stretch for you in your workday? Even little, what we call activity snacks, like one minute of walking every hour has been shown to reduce blood pressure in study participants.

And all the participants in this study were generally healthy adults, meaning those with chronic conditions could see an even greater benefit. So there are many of us who lead inactive or sitting based lifestyles or have sitting based jobs, and there are social norms they say, where if you do get up too often out of your desk, people may kind of give you the stink eye thinking you're not working. So sitting is an occupational hazard and a healthy employee is a productive employee.

I just want to also add that the standing desks can be popular, however, they may not be the answer. There's not solid scientific evidence that standing is a lot better than sitting. There's a concern that it's a false sense that it's a healthier option because they're using a standing desk. But the goal is to move. Can you do knee lifts? Can you do stretches? Can you do squats even while you're on the phone? While you're on the computer?

The most recent research only looked at the effectiveness of walking. But there are other ways to move your muscles regularly, and that's big message today. You can simply, get up and down from your chair, just stand up and sit down. For people with limited mobility or challenges, there are still accessible ways to break up your sedentary day. You can stretch out, you can move your hands in all directions. You can do side bends, twisting exercises from a chair.

Even when you can't move your lower body and actually get up from sitting, taking deep breaths that use your diaphragm and move your ribs is even beneficial for your posture and overall health. The overall message is to move in as many ways that are possible based on your ability throughout your day. The bar for movement doesn't have to be really high, just breaking up that sitting with some kind of movement is going to give you.

In conclusion, I recommend you moving and enjoying your day. I promise if you get more movement, you'll be in a better mood. You'll have increased circulation and more energy. Thank you for having me join you today.