Smart Moves: Twenty-Three Ways to Avoid Becoming a Couch Potato
Amy’s new dog, Sam, had more energy than her middle-aged owner expected. Amy fell in love with the tiny Maltese mix on an animal rescue website. After clicking on the link to the dog’s photo several times, she brought the little pooch home. Within a few days, Sam began regularly demanding Amy’s attention. It seemed that whenever she sat down to read or type on her computer, after 20 minutes passed, Sam came and barked at her to get up. The dog usually wanted to go outside, have a treat, or just receive some extra attention. Whatever her reason, she wanted Amy to stand up.
Once she was standing, Amy usually found herself completing a household task—taking out the garbage or emptying the dishwasher—before she sat down once again. After a couple of weeks of being annoyed at this canine behavior, Amy experienced an epiphany. “Sam is doing something important for me—she is preventing me from becoming a couch potato!” she thought. Her own situation prompted her to learn more about avoiding couch potato behavior. She learned that after a person has been sitting for a while, any movement is good for the body and can be helpful toward promoting fitness. The following suggestions are offered to help prevent couch potato behavior.
1. Set a timer for when you’d like to stand up and move around---after 20 minutes, 30 minutes, however long you’d like.
2. Add some extra movement to everyday tasks. Squat while you brush your teeth. Add calf and hamstring stretches to your to-do list. Feel free to dance down the hall or grab those grandkids and bust a move together. Put on your—or their—favorite music and make that family room rock.
3. Music is everywhere—move to it at every opportunity, even if it’s just taking a spin after you’ve pulled up a sheet on the bed, or breaking into a shimmy between rinsing the dishes and the silverware.
4. Pick up the pace while walking. Whether it’s down a grocery aisle or down your basement hallway, you’ll burn more calories if you walk faster. Faster walking also strengthens leg muscles and is good for your lungs, heart, and happiness quotient.
5. Clean a little every day. The movement required to vacuum, dust, wash windows, or do laundry burns calories and can even get your blood pumping. Exaggerate your moves, burn even more calories, and get a spotless house in the process.
6. Make the most movement you can out of your kitchen tasks. Choose cast iron pans and pots because they are heavier. A cleaver is heavier than a kitchen knife when it comes to chopping, which can provide a bit more of a workout for your wrists, fingers, and arm muscles.
7. Refrigerate your drinking water in a jug—it gives your wrists and arms eight pounds to lift.
8. Park close to the exit rather than the entrance. If you park at the far end of the lot, you could take 200 steps before reaching the store. This could add 40,000 steps to your daily activities in one year.
9. Set a quota of 60 stairs—or six flights—per day. Walking just two flights a day melts enough calories to let you drop six pounds in a year. Swear off elevators and add more stairs to your day.
10. Set a goal to stand more than you sit—for all the hours you are awake.
11. Take an “outdoor break” and walk around outside. Pick up stray shoes or trash. Walk the dog. Pull weeds. Practice your golf swing. Push kids in a swing or lift them onto the trampoline. Use a rake rather than a leaf blower.
12. Buy and use a pull-up bar.
13. If they’re not too heavy, lift those grocery bags rather than using a cart.
14. When watching TV, stand and leave the room to complete a task whenever an advertisement comes on. Or just stand, stretch, or move around for part of the show.
15. If you ride a train, stand up and hold the bar. Also, you are likely to walk more—getting to the pickup place, getting to specific locations--if you ride the bus or take the train into the city than if you drive your car.
16. Listen to music or books on tape while walking or standing.
17. Get a headset for your phone so you can stand and move while you talk. Remember to talk while standing. Walk or pace, and don’t stop to sit and chat. If you need to talk with a business associate, schedule a “walking meeting.” Use the voice recorder on your smart phone, or bring a small pad and pen to take notes.
18. Take short “activity breaks,” where you walk up a couple of flights of stairs or around the block.
19. Stand up while using the computer. Feel free to bend, stretch, and wiggle while you do.
20. Hold your grandbaby in your arms rather than in a carrier. You’ll move around more if you do.
21. Use the playground for yourself, too. Rather than watching those grandkids play, walk around, hang from the monkey bars, climb on the jungle gym, or complete the obstacle course.
22. Allow a few inches between your back and the seat while you are driving.
23. Consider using a pedometer to track the number of steps you take during the day to see if you are meeting the recommended amount of activity. Aim for 6,000 to 10,000 steps per day. Some pedometers also measure energy expenditures to help monitor the amount of activity.
The Center For Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine issued a joint recommendation that people need 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity activity on most if not all days of the week. Five days defines the threshold of “most” days, but one day is better than none. Such physical activity should increase breathing but not be so difficult that you can’t carry on a conversation while doing it.
People who don’t have time to be active or play sports during the week can become “weekend warriors “and accomplish enough physical activity on the weekends to burn as many calories as the weekly recommendation. While the benefits of weekend only activity do not equal daily activity, they are definitely worth the effort, and you will be much better off than those who do not exercise at all.
Take Breaks to Move More
After she learned more about movement and health, Amy made sure that she moved more each day. Best of all, she and her dog, Sam, reached a comfortable truce. Amy discovered that Sam loved to languish within a warm quilt. Now the two of them regularly relax on a couch—Amy with her book and Sam wrapped up in a quilt. Sam is still ready for Amy to stand up after a short while—but now that’s okay with Amy!
Find what works for you. Even minor changes can reap big benefits. You can resign from being a couch potato today!
By Carolyn Campbell