This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, visit my Disclaimer Policy.
This week’s guest blog post was written by Jess Roe, Holistic Health and Fitness Coach. Jess focuses on the importance of incorporating consistent movement into your workday that doesn’t have to be excessive or schedule-limiting. She is awesome to work with and is filled with knowledge and encouragement. Thanks for sharing this with us, Jess!
===
Raise your hand if you’re working from home more often than not these days. Whether you are working for someone else or running your own show, you would think working from home would be pretty nice – right?
- You set your own schedule (more or less).
- You can take breaks whenever you want.
- Cook your own meals.
- Roll out of bed and you’re already at work.
- Take the dogs for a walk in the middle of the day.
- And, you are totally going to have time for workouts and self-care right?
But then reality sets in.
Suddenly, YOU are solely responsible for creating your own work routines. YOU have to set boundaries between work life and home life. And that’s WAY harder than you thought it would be. Especially if you have kids. Yikes.
There are near-constant distractions and suddenly, you are getting a whole lot less done each day. Efficiency goes out the window which means you spend more time working. And, you are tempted to keep working outside the normal 9-5 schedule.
You are spending ALL DAY in front of your computer. Yet, you are frustrated because you don’t have enough to show for it! You find yourself trudging through each day – no better than if you were really working a standard 9-5 office job. The creativity and inspiration are gone.
How can you possibly work in your zone of genius when the kids are dumping flour all over your kitchen floor? (That’s not just me, right?!) And all that glorious time for walks, cooking, workouts, and self-care? Yeah, right. You don’t have time for that. You are not getting enough work done to justify taking time for all that.
Or do you?
I know it can be really challenging when you have to take the lead in sticking to a routine or setting boundaries between work life and home life. But it is totally possible to create a routine that allows time for your health and fitness.
I bet you are probably thinking no way. You have even less time than you thought you would. You’re not as efficient as you hoped you would be. There is no way you are going to have time to exercise, much less do any of the other things you wanted to do to get healthier!
But what if I told you that there IS a way?
And not only is it possible for you to find time to exercise, but that time spent exercising will actually make you MORE efficient, so you will have MORE time! And when you get more efficient and have more time, you will get the space you need to let your creativity and inspiration bloom again!
Don’t believe me?
Let’s talk about what’s happening to your body and mind when you have to spend most of the day sitting doing work.
Studies are finding that physical inactivity (i.e. spending all day sitting doing work), is the main cause of up to 25% of breast and colon cancers, 27% of diabetes, and 30% of heart disease. The World Health Organization even lists physical inactivity as the 4th leading risk factor for death in the entire world!
So, spending most of your time sitting is actually CAUSING your health to deteriorate!
But what about your brain?
Well, your brain is directly connected to your body. And while western medicine often treats mental health separately from physical health, the fact is that they are solidly connected, and one will affect the other.
So if you’re physically unhealthy, your brain is going to suffer too.
That brain fog, inability to focus, losing your train of thought, scatterbrain and overwhelming mental load aren’t just a result of working from home. They are also symptoms of stress and poor health.
Speaking of stress … you are dealing with a lot of that, aren’t you? Working from home, balancing work life and home life, managing health issues, dealing with the craziness of our world, and plenty more on top of that! Stress is like the nasty icing on the cake for both your health and your work!
Your health and mental function both worsen when you are chronically stressed. Your efficiency goes down the drain. And creativity? How can you possibly come up with beautiful, inspiring ideas when your body and brain are stretched to their limit and barely functioning?
Clearly, you need a single, quick, and super-effective solution that will decrease stress, boost your physical health, AND get your brain working at full capacity. This will help you get your work done while letting your creativity flow so you can LOVE the work you do WHILE living the active, vibrant life you expected!
So HOW exactly do you make this happen?
Well, let me first debunk this idea that you need to somehow squeeze a 30-60 minute workout into your already packed day. Because you already know that isn’t going to happen right now. And luckily, that isn’t the answer!
Why?
You know now that spending lots of time sitting is correlated to an increased risk of chronic disease.
But, even exercising for the recommended 30-60 minutes a day DOESN’T reduce that risk if you spend the rest of the time sitting!
You can read that again.
Even the weekend warriors who are out there proudly busting their butts doing their intense tire-flipping, battle-ropes-waving, box-jump workouts multiple times a week are still at a high risk of chronic disease if they spend the rest of their time sitting.
So do you know what you need to do? It’s super simple.
All you need to do is BREAK UP THE SITTING.
That’s it! You break up the time you spend sitting and MOVE for a few minutes every hour or two. Yep. Here’s why it works:
- Your body was never designed to sit all day. If it were, you’d just be a blob without muscles.
- Your brain wasn’t designed to focus perfectly for hours at a time. It needs breaks to recharge, and unstructured time to process and allow the creative juices to flow freely.
When you add in simple sitting breaks, you are creating a movement habit. You are giving your body and mind exactly what they need to function in the way they were designed!
I know, it seems way too simple. That couldn’t possibly be enough to make a difference. Try it!
Look at your day and think about what times you’d normally sit for long stretches. Set an alarm so you will get up and just walk around (or do any other activity that sounds pleasant) for 2-5 minutes every hour. Or make it 10 minutes if you’ve been sitting for closer to 2 hours.
Do this for:
- One day and you will notice your brain working better.
- Two days and you will notice your body doesn’t ache quite so much at the end of the day.
- One week and you will notice the scale moving downward while your energy is trending upward.
You can keep it super simple.
But if you want to see some really cool results, you can start doing some stretches, easy strength exercises, or gentle cardio. You don’t need any intense workouts to get those results. In fact, if you are dealing with a boatload of chronic stress and fatigue, intense workouts are the worst thing you can do. But, that’s a conversation for another time.
You don’t need to spend a whole 30-60 minutes exercising. Believe it or not, you’ll get the SAME results if you split that workout up into 5-minute chunks throughout the day.
Plus, you get the incredible health benefits of breaking up the sitting with none of the drawbacks of getting sweaty and worn out.
Pretty cool, huh?
Now you know that simply breaking up the time you spend sitting can not only improve your health but boost your mental function, efficiency, and creativity while reducing your overall stress. So what are you waiting for?
About Jess Roe
Jess is a holistic health and fitness coach who helps overwhelmed women get off the weight loss rollercoaster and reclaim their energy and confidence no matter their health history, how little time they have, or how many times they have failed.
Jess believes that every woman deserves to feel comfortable, confident, and capable in her beautiful body. And that is 100% possible without intense workouts or restrictive diets.
After learning to manage her own genetic hypermobility disorder, Jess realized there is an easier, more effective, and far more enjoyable approach to healthy living. Now she helps her clients rediscover health, fall in love with their bodies, and start living the vibrant life of their dreams.
When she’s not working with clients, she’s homeschooling, cooking up delicious food, adventuring with her family, or just relaxing with a book.
Follow Jess Roe
Join the Making Sense of a Healthy Life Community
