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Wed, 06 May 2009

Keep On Moving! Important Advice For All Sitter Workers And Couch Potatoes From Dr. Mirkin

From the May 3, 2009 issue of Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Health and Fitness Ezine:

The next time you are stuck sitting in one place for a very long time, get up and move. Sitting for extended periods markedly increases your chances of suffering a heart attack or diabetes, and dying prematurely, whether or not you exercise regularly (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, May 2009). This comes from the Canada Fitness Survey that evaluated men and women for "sitting time" in 1981 and followed them for more than 12 years.

We have to explain why sitting increases risk for heart attacks and diabetes, even if you exercise. More than 80 percent of diabetics die of heart disease and diabetes can be caused by repeated high rises in blood sugar and fat after meals. When blood sugar rises too high, sugar sticks to the surface of cell membranes. Once there, sugar can never detach and is eventually converted by a series of chemical reactions to sorbitol which destroys the cell to cause blindness, deafness, heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, impotence and all the horrible side effects of diabetes.

The most efficient way to prevent these high rises in blood sugar is to contract your muscles. Contracting muscles draw sugar so rapidly from the bloodstream that they can prevent this high rise in blood sugar. This effect lasts during active exercise, is maximal for up to a half hour after you stop exercising and then gradually tapers off in about 17 hours.

Now we know that you should keep moving for most of your waking hours. Exercise every day, and when you are not exercising, continue to use your muscles. If your job or hobbies require you to sit, get in the habit of walking around several times an hour. Avoid being overweight, and reduce your intake of foods that cause a high rise in blood sugar when you are not exercising. The foods that cause the highest rises in blood sugar are sugars in liquid form and foods made from flour.

Comment From: Jen at Boda Weight Loss Blog "It is funny how the most common sense, simplest knowledge is so surprising. Our bodies were made to move, to stand, to bend and so many health problems come from being sedentary. I know because I have worked most of my life in a job where I stand and move around and once in a while I have to sit at a computer for eight hours a day and it literally wreaks havoc on my body. When I go to stand for a break after a few hours my back is killing me."

Savvy Veg Reply: "I know exactly what you mean! I work at a computer many hours a day, and every hour or so I have to jump up and go do something or else I get all stiff, grumpy and depressed. I swear my intelligence goes down and my weight goes up the more I sit! Amazing to think that a hundred years ago, most people sat very little, now most people seem to sit most of the time, even children."

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