Like many of us in the hospitality industry I have had some extra time up my sleeve lately.
I’m not alone in having experiences in lockdown or in quarantine that have tested our resolve to move. The temptation to sit on the couch and binge watch Netflix is all too real.
If, like me, you wear biohacking devices that track your steps, you’ve likely seen some dramatic changes in your statistics.
I use both the Oura ring and the Whoop strap to track my movement and in the last four months, I’ve seen changes both for better and for worse.
I have been fortunate enough over the last couple of months to enjoy some days on the water deep sea fishing. One might think that hours in a boat pulling in coral trout and whale watching wouldn’t necessarily offer much value in terms of movement stats.
You’d be wrong.
In a recent six hour fishing trip, I returned to land not only with a buzz from the haul of fish but also an impressive workout result.
How did I do it? I was mostly standing during the fishing trip. My body was constantly moving in response to the sea conditions.
The idea that I could achieve such incredible results in a 6m x 1.5m boat prompted me to look into the power of subtle movement further. This led me to Dr. Joan Verniko’s book Sitting Kills, Moving Heals.
Joan Vernikos was the former Director of NASA’s Life Sciences Division. Basically, she was responsible for understanding how to optimize the health and well-being of astronauts.
In this book, Joan walks us through how our sedentary lifestyles are surprisingly similar to the gravity-free lifestyles of astronauts in space.
Just as an astronaut’s health rapidly deteriorates outside of gravity’s pull, our health erodes when we adopt a sedentary lifestyle.
The book pulls together the learnings from NASA to create a practical survival kit to wellness for us Earthlings.
Here are some of my key takeaways:
Gravity 101
1) SITTING all-day-every-day has similar effects on us here on Earth When we’re sitting all the time, gravity can’t do its thing. And, as a result, we age way faster than we should and make ourselves vulnerable to all the diseases we don’t want to get. Researchers call these effects “Gravity Deprivation Syndrome.”
2) Gravity is Neat!
About nine years ago, James Levine, an exercise physiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, coined the term non-exercise activity thermogenesis NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis). His concept of NEAT sounds much like what I had been discovering in my space and gravity-related research.
NEAT is a much greater component of your body’s total energy expenditure throughout a typical day. In fact, even greater than structured high-intensity exercises such as walking, running, bicycling, or working out in a gym.
3) G-Habits
This is the term given to practical things we can do to improve our NEAT. It’s not about exercising more per se, it’s all about our G-Habits!
● Stretching: I stretch as much as I can during the day. Whenever I stand up from my desk, I stretch. I also do a more comprehensive stretching session before and after my daily exercise.
● Stand Up. Sit Down: Simply standing up from a seated position is HUGE. Joan recommends making sure you do this at least 32 times per day.
● Stand Tall: Simply standing tall is a NEAT way to work against gravity and stretch your body out and stimulate your muscles. When I do sit down, I sometimes sit with a book on my head to try to maintain a tall sitting posture and engage my muscles.
● Walk Tall: Imagine there is a thread of string running up your spine and out of the top of your head. Imagine it being pulled upwards whenever you’re walking.
“Your body is your personal responsibility—not your country’s, nor your insurance company’s, nor even your doctor’s. Take action. Why wait to get sick before you decide to be healthy?”
Those are the final words of the book and so appropriate for this time. This book has so much more to offer and is full of great advice that’s so relevant.
Find out more about the book here: https://www.joanvernikos.com/
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