A lot of stress management and pain management can be addressed through movement. Most office environments aren't very conducive to movement throughout the day, but we've got some ideas. Tune in to this webinar for the latest in sedentary research and some practical office stretches and strategies to add more movement (and less pain and stress) to your day.

1. SITTING IS THE NEW
SMOKING2
MUS Wellness, Neal Andrews and Cristin Stokes
May 1, 2014

2. VIVA LAS VEGAS

3. PRIOR RESEARCH
• One of the first “sitting” studies was released in 1953. The study found that
seated bus-drivers had twice the risk of heart attack when compared to
active bus conductors.
• Average American sits 9.3 hours per day, sleeps 7.7 hours per day.
• 2012 Meta-analysis compiling 18 studies and 800,000 participants found high
levels of sedentary behavior associated with:
• 112% increase in the relative risk of diabetes,
• 147% increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease,
• 90% increase in the risk of cardiovascular mortality
• 49% increase in the risk of all-cause mortality
• 2012 Television Viewing Study
• Results: Compared with persons who watch no TV, those who spend a lifetime
average of 6 hours per day watching TV can expect to live 4.8 years less.
• On average, every single hour of TV viewed after the age of 25 reduces the
viewer’s life expectancy by 21.8 minutes. (Comparable to Smoking)

4. FROM THE RESEARCERS:
• “…a person who does a lot of exercise but watches six hours of TV” every night
“might have a similar mortality risk as someone who does not exercise and
watches no TV.”
• --Dr. J. Lennert Veerman, University of Queensland (Australia).
• “Many of us in modern society have jobs which involve sitting at a computer all day.
We might convince ourselves that we are not at risk of disease because we
manage the recommended 30 minutes of exercise a day…[but we] are still at
risk if we sit all day.”
• --Dr. Emma Wilmot, University of Leicester (England).
• “The most striking feature of prolonged sitting is the absence of skeletal muscle
contractions, particularly in the very large muscles of the lower limbs.”
• --Dr. David W. Dunstan, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia.
• “There is absolutely no doubt that exercise is beneficial for health.” If you exercise
for 30 minutes a day, “take time to reflect on your activity levels for the
remaining 23.5 hours,” and [aim to] “be active, sit less.”
• --Dr. Emma Wilmot

5. LATEST RESEARCH
• In a cross-sectional study of 929 healthy male workers, the most sedentary
individuals had higher BMI, greater waist circumference, higher systolic BP,
and poorer blood lipid profiles than the less sedentary participants.
• Sedentary Lifestyle and Its Relation to Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Insulin Resistance
and Inflammatory Profile. Revista Espanola de Cardiologia (Feb 2014).
• A study of older adults (mean age = 83 years) found that exercise/activity
levels predicts greater memory-related microstructural integrity [in the brain].
• Physical Activity Predicts Microstructural Integrity in Memory-Related Networks in Very
Old Adults. Journal of Gerontology (Jan 2014).

6. LATEST RESEARCH
• In a study of rats, physical inactivity vs. activity alters neuronal structure in
brain regions associated with cardiovascular regulation. Findings: inactivity
related structural and functional changes [of the brain] may contribute to
an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in sedentary animals.
• Physical (in)activity-dependent structural plasticity in bulbospinal catecholaminergic
neurons of rat rostral ventrolateral medulla. Journal of Comparitive Neurology (Feb
2014).
• www.sedentarybehaviour.org

7. WHAT ARE OUR BIGGEST ISSUES?
• Exercise/Fitness (Neal’s Opinion)
• Sedentary Lifestyle
• Nutrition (Cristin’s Opinion)
• Availability of Food (Availability of Poor Food)
• i.e. We eat too much, and we eat too much junk

8. MONTANA MOVES HIGH FIVE
1. Move More, Sit Less
2. Find Balance in Life
3. Move Better
a. Better Mobility
b. Better Movement patterns
4. Play Outside
5. Have Fun!
(Check out Cristin’s 6 Nutritional Tenets to tackle the Nutrition Issue)

9. BEHAVIORAL ARCHITECTURE
• B.J. Fogg Method
• Select precise behaviors
• Make behavior easy to do
• Ensure a trigger will prompt behavior

10. BEHAVIORAL ARCHITECTURE
• “I turned my spare room into a mini home gym (aka put out my hand
weights and yoga mat). As a result I did yoga 2x/week and strength training
1-2x/week for the month.”
• “Instead of accumulating my paper shredding throughout the workday for
one big batch to shred at the end of the day, I get up and shred each
piece as it occurs. I do the same with my recycling bin. This gets me up and
moving.”
• “I have been using the 2nd or 3rd floor bathroom at work (2nd floor when I’m in
a hurry)”
• “I’ve been packing my gym clothes the night before and putting them with
my purse so I don’t forget them in the morning (have not forgot my clothes
once!).”

11. BEHAVIORAL ARCHITECTURE
• “I have started making my swimming workouts meetings in my phone
calendar, with reminders to do it beeping half an hour before so I have time
to get ready and get to the gym.”
• “My behavioral architectural change for March was to put my bath towel in
the family room at bedtime so that I would do my pushups, planks and situps
each morning before I shower. The family room is the only carpeted room in
our house and is directly across from the bathroom. If I go into the bathroom
first, it is highly unlikely I will do my morning exercises --- putting my towel
across the hall has greatly increased my a.m. exercise consistency.”
• “I’ve got about a 50% success rate on the “stand-up” task pop-up and the
stair climbing reminder. I seem to catch the reminders about half the
time. The buildup of pop-ups definitely puts the guilt trip on me, so I’ll walk a
little farther, or dash up the stairs a little faster to compensate.”

12. OFFICE STRETCHES, PART 1

13. BEHAVIORAL ARCHITECTURE
• “Instead of using the closest restroom to my office, I make a circular lap and
use a restroom on the other end of building, and on a different floor from my
office. If for whatever reason I don’t do this, then I make two laps the next
trip….and so on. So far I have only had to make 3 laps, which turns out to be
a nice get away from my desk!”
• “Put my lunch in the break-room refrigerator upstairs, rather than in the
refrigerator 3 feet from my desk.”
• “Instead of pulling up to the mail box on my way home, I pass the box and
park at home. Then I take the dogs out with me to retrieve the mail.”
• “[I] moved coffee supplies into other room, so I have to get up from desk
and walk down the hall to get them.”

14. BEHAVIORAL ARCHITECTURE
• “[The change] I have made at work is I always take the stairs. We have 3
floors at work and we are up and down quite a bit. I think the conscious
decision to do this, helps me stay fit."
• “Using the printer that is located in another office (this started because my
printer was on the fritz, but I discovered that I like the opportunity to get up
from my desk frequently!)”
• “Put an appointment on my calendar to take a 10 minute stretch break in
the morning and afternoon”
• “The alarm one was kind of fun, because it’s amazing how much more
focused I was after I took a short walk…sometimes a little break can help
refocus and reinvigorate, we just need a reminder so we do it.I try to take a
short walk a few times a week, just to get out of the office for a minute…they
aren’t long…but the benefits have been great!”

15. OFFICE STRETCHES, PART 2

16. BEHAVIORAL ARCHITECTURE
• “My daughter and I remind each other to bring our workout clothes to
work/school each morning. Ideally, we remind each other the night before
so we’re not running around the house in the morning to find our workout
gear.”
• “Obtain a 2nd dog leash to keep inside the house (main one is in the car) so
walking the dog is more convenient.”
• “I've started keeping my cross-country skis on the front porch so that I can
quickly go outside and ski around in my yard whenever I get a chance. This
way, I don't have to dig my skis out of the garage and I am more likely to get
a little more exercise, daylight, and fun!”

17. GUESS WHAT TODAY BEGINS?
• May is National Bike Month!
• Montana Moves Challenge of the Month: Bike Bingo!
• Bike to Work Week is May 12-16: Look for events in your community.
• National Bike Challenge begins today!
• East vs. West!
• Log bike rides from May 1 to Sept. 30th.
• www.nationalbikechallenge.org
• It’s free to join.
• MUS Wellness East
• MUS Wellness West
• www.montanamovesandmeals.com

18. MONTANA MOVES HIGH FIVE
1. Move More, Sit Less
2. Find Balance in Life
3. Move Better
a. Better Mobility
b. Better Movement patterns
4. Play Outside
5. Have Fun!