Stand Up!!

Sitting can kill you... I'm serious... a study that analyzed the lifestyles of 17,000 men & women over a period of 13 years found that people who sit for most of the day are 54% more likely to die of heart attacks. That's a pretty startling finding, if you ask me. But even more surprising was the fact that it didn't matter if the person smoked or not... or if a person exercised or not... it is an independent risk factor... if you sit a major part of your day, you have more than a 50% chance of dieing of a heart attack. I'm writing the rest of this blog standing up... well I would if I had longer arms to reach the keyboard.

I think this goes hand in hand with my theory of labor saving devices and why they actually hurt you more than save you. We got machines at work that push things, pull things, pick things up, move things a few feet and if you don't use them, you'll get a lecture on safety and not hurting yourself. But in the long run you are hurting yourself, by not lifting, pulling, pushing, etc... One of the phrases I hear too often at work is, "I'm not killing myself!" and I always want to retort, "But you are."

You have to use your body, you gotta move, you gotta lift, you gotta bend, you gotta push and pull... Don't always look for the easy way... "Save your back" is another one I always hear. I saved my back for such a long period of time a few years ago, that when I needed it, it said, "I don't think so!!"...I felt something and I was out for 4 days with lower back pain... If you don't use it, you'll lose it.