Sedentary athlete?

It is officially summer and surprisingly many people maybe moving LESS in the summer. 

You might be thinking, “don’t people get outside more when the days are longer and the weather is better?” Yes, they do. They may even be more ACTIVE. Walking, cycling for transportation, spending some time at the pool or the beach. But, that doesn’t mean they are moving more during the entire day and they could be compensating by resting more.

There is a difference between activity, exercise and being sedentary. You already know that exercising doesn’t make up for sitting too much and that being inactive and lack of exercise are health risks. So summertime might mean you are more active, but that might not mean that much. The average person sits 9.3 hours a day…

The definition of a sedentary lifestyle is, a person that fails to exercise for at least 20 consecutive minutes, 3 days in a week. Being sedentary is one of the 10 leading causes of death. Many people are only exercising on the weekend, not three times a week. And some of us may be suffering from the sedentary athlete syndrome.

What is a sedentary athlete? That sounds impossible, but it is not. If you exercise 45-90 minutes a day, you can still be too sedentary. Sedentary athletes may exercise vigorously, but still gain weight, because they sit still too much. The more they sit, the more weight they gain.

So is working out more the answer? No. That is not the solution. What you need is to move more. Stop sitting. Keep exercising, keep being active. Get outside and enjoy the long days. Ride your bike, walk, stroll, swim, surf, paddle whatever you like doing, but just don’t sit still.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla