The 12 worst things we are doing to our health

What are the worst things we do to our health?

I went to Perspectives in Exercise, Health & Fitness Conference over the weekend. Every two years exercise professionals gather  to learn, discuss and present new research and the applications in exercise, health and fitness. This year one of the panel discussions was “What are the worst things that Canadians (and everyone else) are doing to our health?”

There were 4 educated people on the panel, with a mix of backgrounds, ages and interests so the answers were unique to their perspective. Everyone was given the chance to ask questions and discuss their ideas after they presented their ideas. 

Some of the answers were practical and some philosophical, but I thought they would make an interesting discussion, so for the next 12 weeks I am going to present one of the ideas and I would love to know what do you think. Do you agree or disagree?

The first, sedentary behaviour.

We spend too much time sitting. Study after study has shown that sitting is killing us. 

Even recreational runners sit too much!

A study published in 2014 in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health asked 218  marathon  and half marathon runners about how they spent their time and even these people who were training sat more than 10 hours a day.

I know that many people and most organizations think we shouldn’t make exercise recommendations to hard. That we should be encouraging people to do something, anything. That telling people to do more exercise will be too intimidating. Encourage people to be active by giving them modest guidelines.

You may agree with those thoughts. I do not. Let me explain why.

First, any time you are active, instead of being inactive, it is good. Second, anytime you take the stairs, or leave the car at home, is a positive step for your personal health. Third, doing 30 minutes of exercise is better than not exercising. If you have not been active, trying to do it all at once never turns out well. However, this is not the point.

The point is, that like nutrition recommendations that may promote “moderation” not giving people the facts does everyone a disservice. Current recommendations for exercise are 150 minutes a week, about 21. 5 minutes a day. 

This is a direct quote from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, 

To achieve health benefits, adults aged 18-64 should accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, in bouts of 10 minutes 
or more.

But, does this really result in health benefits?

If we look at walking, the easiest form of activity for most people, doing 150 minutes a week reduces your risk of all cause mortality from being inactive by about 7% when compared to being sedentary. This may, or may not, seem worth it to you. 

What if I told you that it is possible to reduce your risk by 24%?

All you had to do was walk one hour a day.

One hour is 4% of your day.

I don’t know about you but 24% seems significant to me. 7% is fine, but not really motivating. I think the guidelines for exercise are like nutrition recommendations encouraging people to cut down on sugar. Well-meaning but not particularly useful.

Why are we trying to protect people from the facts?

I encourage everyone to get some exercise, more if possible. I am not judging your total exercise time, but neither do I find it necessary to protect you from the facts. I believe that you should know what works and make your own choices about how much, or what type, of exercise you choose to do. I do not believe that it is in anyone’s best interest to recommend what I think you might do, as opposed to what actually makes a difference. Then you can make an informed choice. 

The difference is significant. If you choose not to do it, it is not because you aren’t given the facts. We know that exercise is good, some is better than none, more is better. You might make choices based on what is important to you right now, but I don’t want you to make choices based on incomplete information.

Think about your reaction if your accountant worked this way… 

Research has consistently found that the more exercise you do the better it is for you.

A new study published last week from the Cleveland Clinic with over 122,000 adults highlighted the importance of more physical activity for better health results. They found a very clear and distinct connection between a long and healthier life and high levels of exercise. 

Dr Wael Jaber, co-author of the study says,

“Being unfit on a treadmill or in an exercise stress test has a worse prognosis, as far as death, than being hypertensive, being diabetic or being a current smoker. We’ve never seen something as pronounced as this and as objective as this.”

Being sedentary is the equivalent to having a major disease.

The Cleveland Clinic study concluded with the following statement,

Cardiorespiratory fitness is a modifiable indicator of long-term mortality, and health care professionals should encourage patients to achieve and maintain high levels of fitness.

I have worked with many types of people, with all types of medical conditions and I can tell you that 20 minutes a day is not going to result in a high level of fitness. 

So, yes I agree that one of the worse things we are doing for our health is being too sedentary. It also frustrates me that exercise organizations and guidelines do not give people the true facts, but a guideline based on what they think people might do. I don’t believe this is helpful. I have more faith in people’s ability to make choices. 

If you want to sit less and move more, you can start by adding 10 minutes of walking to your day. If you don’t walk now that would mean 10 minutes extra. If you walk for 30 minutes, next time go for 40 minutes. Small changes add up, you can do something significant for your health and it will make a difference.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla