I just read a very interesting article that really caught my attention. It was written by Ann Utterback, Ph.D. Voice Specialist. It was entitled:
“Health: Beware: Sitting is the new smoking: “Get up to add years to your life.” Ann’s full article can be found on voiceoverxtra.com.
In the article, she talks about how sitting at our jobs for so many hours a day without moving can cause serious health problems such as diabetes, obesity or cancer. I certainly don’t mean to burst your bubble. So let’s get to the good news in all of this. There is actually good news out of all of this if we begin to take precautionary measures right now. In fact, if we take these precautionary measures, we can actually add years to our lives.
If you are like me, you sit at your computer a lot, and my closest friends know that I sit at my computer way too much. Well, this particular article really got me thinking.
Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a project where you are really concentrating on getting a deadline met, and you feel the pressure on you to get the job done as quickly as possible? I think we’ve all been there, where we find ourselves, not moving for several hours, and not even thinking about it, right?
Here are some ideas which I’ve decided to implement after reading Anne’s article, and hopefully, will help those of you who are in the same predicament:
1. Setting an alarm as a reminder to get up and move once every half hour to an hour. Just taking a five to ten minute walk or stretch helps to put things in perspective and gets those muscles moving.
2. While talking on the phone, stand up, walk around.
3. Take a short walk around the block every so often, get out of your office, cubicle or studio, and get some fresh air.
4. Get up and get a glass of water. Hydration matters.
5. When watching tv, get up and stretch during the commercials.
6. If you’re on a trip in the car or on a plane, stand and stretch every hour.
7. Have walking meetings instead of breakfast meetings.
I think you get the idea.
So, on that note, Whatever it takes, let’s move, move, move!
Tina Wilson
Voiceover artist/vocalist