Time management tips can rob you of time if you value productivity exclusively. If you habitually spend hours on end seated at a desk or computer terminal, refusing to get up for breaks, you may gain efficiency at the price of living longer.
Recent evidence suggests that the body is poorly suited for prolonged periods of sitting. The American Heart Association's journal, Circulation, has published a report that every additional hour spent watching television daily without rising from the couch increases the risk of mortality from heart disease by 18%! If you sit without moving for four hours running on a daily basis, your susceptibility to death from cardiovascular disease increases by 80%, compared to those who remain seated for two hours straight or less.
This study, notably, used a control group that met exercise guidelines. And one's diet did not alter these results.
It seems counter-intuitive that those who exercise and eat sensibly are so affected. Evidently studies indicate a strong correlation between overall sedentary time and increased blood lipids, blood glucose and fat tissue. And this holds just as true for those who engage in moderate to vigorous activity numerous times during the week.
Happily, you can both guard your health and retain your efficiency with minor modifications. To reverse this effect, you aren't required to exercise for hours on end. Instead, add in "Movement Moments" - just a few minutes interspersed to break up periods of sitting. This shift helps your body convert the cholesterol in your blood from LDL to HDL.
In fact, frequent short breaks spent moving around, stretching and flexing your muscles also contributes to lower body mass index, a smaller waist circumference, better glucose metabolism and lower blood lipid levels. And it's completely free!
Movement Moments - The Time-Wise Solution
Every 45 minutes or so, try creating brief Movement Moments for yourself. Use a timer if that helps jog your memory. At 45-minute intervals stop what you are doing, get up, and move in whatever way feels good to you. (Do this in privacy, if you can, so that you don't feel constrained.) Try these, and add your favorites:
9 Finest Fast & Free Exercise Bursts
1. Lift weights, large or small
2. Ascend and descend stairways.
3. Dance
4. Jumping jacks
5. Perform leg lunges
6. Leg lifts or situps
7. Stretching
8. Shaking tension from your arms and legs
9. Whatever feels right at the moment!
Do the movements you choose vigorously for about a minute; then you can return to work refreshed. It hardly interrupts your flow, and your energy flows more freely.
As you give yourself the gift of Movement Moments throughout your day, notice how they affect your energy, focus, and productivity. Try keeping track of this for a week, and see what you discover!
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And to energize and mobilize yourself, sign up for our free Finding Time Success Kit, with "The New Finding Time Boundary Template: 9 Steps to Find More Time & Recharge Your Energy!" at http://thetimeschool.com/SuccessKit
This time template plus workbook will help you move beyond disappointment, and overwhelm. You'll find 24 hours really are enough!
Offered to you by Paula Eder, the Time Finder Expert.
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