A sedentary lifestyle is one which is defined as ” a lifestyle type in which little to or no physical activity and exercise is done, as opposed to an active lifestyle.”
Many more people have sedentary lifestyles now than they ever did before. This is because our lives have changed in such a way, decade by decade, that we need to exercise and move less than ever before to get what we need to survive.
Most of us have our own cars and we use these to drive to grocery stores for food, to drive-through spots for even easier food, and to any kind of store/establishment we need. A lot of us work in offices or from our own homes, which is increasingly common year by year. We don’t need to forest, hunt, fight, find water, or do anything that we did in pre-historic ages, and we don’t need to even walk or cycle anywhere as we did in less than pre-historic ages.
We can pretty much get anything and everything we need without moving too much or, indeed, at all.
And while this is convenient and more accessible to people of all abilities, a sedentary lifestyle is something that can have a negative impact on both our physical and mental health.
A sedentary lifestyle can lead to depression, anxiety, joint issues, chronic fatigue, obesity, circulation problems, and so on.
It isn’t the way we were intended to live and so it isn’t the way that we should live if we want to reach our highest potential.
If you want to avoid a sedentary lifestyle within your own life, here are 5 of our best life hacks on how to do that. Give them a go and if they work for you or even sound good to you, let us know in the comments below! We would love to hear from you.
Incorporate exercise and standing into your work day
As we’ve mentioned, a big contributor to the fact so many of us live more sedentary lives right now is the fact that so many of us have office jobs and/or jobs we do from home.
This involves sitting down and looking at a screen for up to 40 hours a week, nearly every week of the year.
This is, of course, not at all great for our minds and bodies, and we need to spice things up a little if we want to keep ourselves in the best condition we can be.
A very easy way to do this is to invest in a standing desk, or DIY one yourself. You don’t need to use it the whole day but you can switch between standing and sitting throughout the day as you do your work. This will really help break up the time you are sitting during the workweek and help prevent your work from becoming a huge part of a sedentary lifestyle.
Take active work breaks
It is important to take ample breaks when you are working, especially when your work involves long periods of sitting and even standing still.
Something you can do to stay as healthy and fit as possible while working is turning your work breaks into active breaks. If you work in an office or store you could go out for a walk or visit a nearby gym on your lunch break. If you work at home you could practice yoga, walk your dog, or do a HIIT workout all from home.
Whatever way you do it is efficient as long as you are doing something active.
Find the exercise that works for you
Some people may find themselves falling into a sedentary lifestyle because they feel that they don’t enjoy a lot of exercise and activity that they have tried before. They may have had bad experiences with certain types of exercise and they feel put off by these experiences.
It’s important to remember that activity and exercise can be anything at all, anything that works for you and motivates you.
It’s ok that certain exercises don’t suit you and you don’t want to do them. You are free to try anything the world has to offer and pick up something new.
When we like a specific activity or exercise, we are much more likely to continue with it and keep up a regular practice. This, therefore, saves us from a sedentary lifestyle and provides us with a lot of fun while doing so!
Make exercise social
If you have found exercising regularly difficult or overwhelming before, one of the very best ways to combat this is to make the exercise you do social and include other people.
This could mean including people you already know, friends, family, a partner, into your exercising and working out together, or it could mean joining an entirely new club or group to find people to exercise with.
A sedentary lifestyle can also often be a lonely and isolated one, but an active lifestyle is much more naturally social and collaborative.
One of the very best ways to keep yourself active is to surround yourself with like-minded, active people. It really helps everything feel natural and organic.
Focus on inner health not outer aesthetic
When we are talking about things like this, we don’t want to come from a place of shame or judgement, and when you are working on getting out of your own sedentary lifestyle you don’t want to come from this place either.
It doesn’t help and, in fact, shame very often puts us right back to where we started and keeps us from making any progress at all.
The best thing to focus on is your inner health, both physical and mental, and try not to get too bogged down in looks and aesthetics. What you look like doesn’t always equate to how you feel on the inside and so we don’t need to place as much importance on it as we do.
Focus on making healthy choices for you and your future, and you will be on the right track.
(Before you go.. find even more of our life hacks, right here!