This post was written by Krista Jennings Langford, a good friend and laurabarbee.com’s content editor. You’ll see her pop in here frequently to help me provide great information for you online while I work to do my best training offline.

I’m sure you’ve seen this infographic before, but just in case, take a look at that link before reading the rest of this blog post.

In case you didn’t check it out, it’s an image created by MedicalBillingandCoding.org, that shares some seriously scary statistics about how much we sit and how bad it is for us. This infographic was created and shared 2-3 years ago, but I doubt much has changed since then.

Some highlights (or lowlights, depending on how you look at it):

• On average we sit for 9.3 hours/day
• Risk of death and obesity increase the more we sit
• People with sitting jobs have twice the rate of cardiovascular disease as those with standing jobs

Bottom Line- the human body is not meant to be stationary, it is meant to move. Sometimes the chronic pain we experience is caused by remaining stationary too often (ie, sitting). And in reality, we don’t realize how much we don’t move! We certainly don’t realize how much we sit! 9.3 hours? That’s more than most of us sleep in one day! So that means we’re really moving less than 10 hours in a 24 hour day!

We need to sit less and we need to move more

I know some of you can’t not sit, your job requires it, but here are some ideas to get you moving more, and hopefully that means you’ll be sitting less when you’re not on the job.

1. Set an alarm on your phone for a quarter after every hour. At that alarm, stand up, reach to the ceiling, and take ten deep breaths before sitting back down.
2. Take the stairs whenever you can
3. Whenever possible, hand deliver messages to your co-workers, and take advantage of the time to walk around the office
4. Walk to work instead of driving. Too far? Walk to a nearby lunch spot instead of driving.
5. Using Public transport? Stand on the bus or train whenever you can.
6. See if your workplace will allow you to use standing desks instead of chairs. Not possible? Get a standing desk for your home office.
7. Are you a compulsive social network or email checker? Stand whenever you load your newsfeeds and new messages.
8. Implement a movement or fitness plan for your non-working hours. Shameless plug: If you’re looking for a training method, consider the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM® Method (and if you’re in Fort Worth, you can contact Laura!)

Sit less, move more. Your body will thank you for it.