Time to Take a Stand for Good Health

xxxOctober 9, 2013 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

I hope you’re sitting down when you read this; it’s quite alarming.

Hmmm, actually, I hope you’re not.

Most of us have sedentary lifestyles.

In many cases, rocks move more than us. I say this neither to induce shame nor guilt, but because – well, that’s just the way it is. Unless you’re an athlete or you have a job that’s got you on your feet all day long, a 2008 report showed that the average American spends about 7.7 hours per day plopped on an ever-expanding tushie. An Australian study says, “The average adult spends 50 to 70 percent of their time sitting;” a majority of his or her life.

It’s not difficult to get there. Consider an office job, relaxing in front of the TV, sitting at the dinner table, reading a book, driving to work, watching DVDs, going to the movies, playing video games; the list goes on. I mean, if we used our feet half as much as we used our behinds, we’d have shapely legs and firm butts; which sure as heck wouldn’t be a bad thing.

With the exception of walking my dog, conducting meetings, or going to Zumba, I spend most of my day in front of a computer screen. For goodness sakes, I’m doing it right now writing this piece. You might not be a computer jockey like me but I bet your life is similar.

What’s alarming is that recent research is showing that type of lifestyle can be as unhealthy as smoking.

Want to know the details? (Actually, you don’t; but I’m going to tell you anyway.) [Read more…]

My journey from the sofa to the gym

xxxDecember 28, 2012 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

Exercise was not something I enjoyed.

Instead of standing up to file papers, I’d scoot over to the file cabinet in my rolling office chair. After work, I flopped on my sofa where I sat contentedly until bedtime. I was living a sedentary lifestyle to the max and loving every minute of it.

As Newton’s Law of Motion explains, a body at rest tends to stay at rest. Even though my office building had a gym – and I had a free membership – I just kept finding reasons to not work out: I was too busy to work out on my lunch break; too tired to work out early in the morning; too stressed out at the end of the day to stick around. Then my boss started a four-week fitness challenge. He offered cash prizes to the team with the most exercise hours logged. The coworkers in my department insisted on participating, and they really wanted me to join in. And, well, I can’t pass up an opportunity to win cash.

I didn’t look forward to working out, especially at work. All I could envision was getting sweaty in the middle of the day or looking foolish in front of my coworkers. When I walked into the employee fitness center, though, I couldn’t believe how clean and fresh it smelled, and how welcoming everyone was. I decided I’d try to keep an open mind, although I wasn’t optimistic that I could stick with any exercise program.

The challenge begins

On the first day of the challenge, we met in the gym during our lunch break. Thankfully, we started out easy. I warmed up with five minutes on the treadmill before hitting the elliptical for 15 minutes. My legs were killing me, but I didn’t want to let my team down.

Showering after working out is important to me, and I thought we wouldn’t have time to shower before returning to work. I was wrong. With the quick workout, I had plenty of time to shower. I even had time to eat the salad I had packed for lunch!

Every day, we kept up the same routine. After a week of regular workouts, I noticed I didn’t feel as sore afterwards. Each week, I felt my body progressively growing stronger as I tried out different machines. I actually started looking forward to our daily workouts.

Not so bad, after all

A few weeks into the fitness challenge, I noticed I felt a lot less stressed out. I was sleeping better, waking up refreshed in the morning and looking forward to work. I stopped making excuses for why I couldn’t work out, because I actually wanted to go to the gym! And I started rewarding myself when I achieved a goal, which helped me stay motivated.

Because I felt so much better physically and emotionally, I made working out a priority, even after the fitness challenge ended. And just to make sure I don’t fall back into my old bad habits, I bought a few pieces of exercise equipment so I can work out, even when I don’t really feel like leaving the house.

I can’t believe how important daily workouts have become to my life.

Just making myself show up that first day of the fitness challenge was the hardest part. After that, working out became a habit.

It’s easier than you think to get off the sofa and into the gym, and the physical and psychological benefits are amazing. Take that first step; you’ll be glad you did.

About the author: Danielle blogs on behalf of Sears and other brands she uses. She’s following her own advice and sticking to a regular exercise routine this holiday season. She’s happy about that and feels the best she has in years.

Obese Children and Bullying

xxxAugust 2, 2010 by Scott "Q" Marcus

It was lousy growing up fat. Nothing was more degrading than buying my clothes in the “husky” section. Okay, maybe showering in front of a bunch of guys after high school P.E. was worse… or, wait, never dating… or, wait a second, here’s one: being teased behind my back – and for that matter – to my face… or, well… I guess there are countless things that suck about being a fat kid.

A recent study shows that obese children in grades three through six are more likely to be bullied than children of normal weight. Teen suicide due to bullying – an absolutely horrifying thought – has tragically been in the news a great deal, raising awareness of the psychological impact of constant harassment. Now we discover that it begins at an early age, with overweight children as the primary target.

Based on my own memories, I didn’t find this to be news. However, I had assumed, or maybe naively hoped, that things had changed. Not so, as researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed over 800 children ages eight to 11. In the third grade, 15 percent of the children were overweight and 17 percent were obese. A quarter of the students admitted to being bullied; with 45 percent of the mothers reporting that her child had been bullied for his or her weight. The odds of being bullied were 63 percent higher for children who were obese than their classmates of normal weight, and bullies did not discriminate based on gender or economic status. Overweight boys were just as likely as girls to be bullied, and even those with good social skills weren’t spared.

[Read more…]