Your Chair is Killing You

Your Chair Is Killing You<br />

Why Exercise? 

30 min 30 min Is Homer Active? 4 hours 8 hours

30 min 30 min 30 min Is Homer Active? 4 hours 8 hours YES

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Your TV Will Kill You<br />

You Car Will Kill You<br />

Sitting Will Kill You 

Stand Up! 

Choose Activity! 

Multitask! 

MOVE. ALL DAY. EVERY DAY.<br />Thank You Ernesto Ramirez | ernestoramirez.org | @e_ramirez

Presentation Transcript Intro - Hi. I'm Ernesto and I going to talk to you today about some new research about sitting and physical activity. But first I want to take you address a little question that I find very interesting Why do we exercise? Why do we get up at 6AM, tie on our shoes and pound out the miles on the pavement? Why do we spend $30, $40, $50 on expensive gym memberships? Well it all started with research. In the 1950s Dr. Jeremy Morris was ran across data that indicated that London bus crews had a unusual phenomenon. The drivers were much more likely to die of heart attacks than the ticket takers. What is the big difference between drivers and ticket takers? One thing: one moves around all day, while one sits on his but all day. This was a very exciting finding, but only when he examined postal (an active occupation) and clerical workers (an inactive occupation) and found the same relationship did it confirm his hypothesis: Being physically active was related to having fewer heart attacks. This trigger a flood of research in the field of physical activity and health. And guess what, physical activity is good for you. And we've found that the more active you are the less likely you are to die prematurely.

Presentation Transcript So what have we done with all this information? We do what all bureaucracies do. We make rules and guidelines. Did you know the federal government says that you should get at least 150 min of moderate to vigorous physical activity every week? So what happens next. We just go about our daily lives just as we always have. We get up, get in the car, work for 8 hours, then exhausted from a stressful day we relax in front of the TV. If you're one of the good ones and you listen to the our good ole government guidelines you stick in 30 minutes of physical activity in there. But does this make you active? Does this really prevent cardiovascular disease and premature death? Well, unfortunately its not that cut and dry. What we've done so for the last 50 years is focus on getting people to exercise. To run, to swim, to just do more. But we didn't realize we've ignored the fact that people spend most of their lives doing something other than physical activity. That didn't use to be a problem but we've effectively engineered all other opportunities to be active out of our live. Instead of walking to work we spend hours in our cars. Instead of living in dense urban areas, we live in track homes tens of miles away from our jobs.

Presentation Transcript Instead of spending our leisure time engaging in active pursuits, we simulate activity through by playing video games. We deal with our stress by watching turning off our brains in front of the TV instead of using them to accomplish something. And work. Work has probably seen the greatest shift over the years. We effectively started chaining people to their computer desks. We've even made sure that garbage men never have to leave the drivers seat. But why does this matter. It matters because these things we spend the majority of our lives doing harm us. Research has shown that watching too much TV is significantly related to incidence of cardiovascular disease and premature death. Even driving in your car is related to premature death. New research indicates that if you're inactive and spend more than 10hr a week in a car then you have 2.5 time greater change of dying prematurely. But really, what are TV and commuting really? They are proxies for sitting. And this is where the latest gains in the health research field have been. Recently, sitting has been independently linked to dying prematurely. What this means is regardless of how active you are, your age, your gender, yaddayaddayadda, the more you sit, the more likely you are to suffer from negative health related consequences.

Presentation Transcript Yes, this sounds like a bunch of gloom and doom, but don't panic, there are three simple things you can do, right now, to change the way you live so you don't fall into the sitting death trap. First, stand up! Make a conscious choice to get up out of your chair. Studies show that people who just get up from time to time have better metabolic profiles that those who just sit for prolonged period of time. So set a timer and try not to sit for more than an hour at a time. Second, choose activity. Everyday you are presented with tons of choices. Should I take the elevator or the stairs? Should I circle the parking lot or just park far way? Should I walk to the store or drive? If you have the opportunity, choose the choice that makes you move. Last, multitask. That picture you see is me working. I spent $300 on a used treadmill and an IKEA adjustable height desk and now I either stand and work or walk and work. I wrote up this presentation at that desk and walked a little over 2 miles and burned about 200 calories doing it. So that is all I have for you. Hopefully I've inspired you to change your life and get up and out of your chairs. It is one of my life goals to get everyone to subscribe to this simple message you see on the screen. Move. All Day. Every Day. Thank you.