It’s no secret that sitting for prolonged periods of time can wreak havoc on our health, resulting in poor posture, back and neck aches, and even more serious diseases.
“As well as the impact it has on our spinal health, one of the biggest pieces of research to date, involving about 800,000 people, has revealed that sitting increases our chance of death through cardiovascular events by 90 per cent,” says Dr Feras Bader, staff physician at the Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. “A sedentary lifestyle is also associated with a 112 per cent increased risk of getting diabetes.”
Bader adds that “remaining seated for too long is bad for our health, regardless of how much we exercise”.
A potential solution, according to a study published on Thursday by Columbia University researchers, could well be “exercising” every 30 minutes. This does not have to be a quick HIIT workout or even on-desk yoga, but rather can manifest in the form of a five-minute walk every half-hour.
Key findings
The proof is in the plodding. The research team, led by Keith Diaz, associate professor of behavioural medicine at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, reported that walking for five minutes after every 30 significantly lowered both blood sugar and blood pressure.
In turn, this significantly affected how participants responded to large meals: blood sugar spikes were down by 58 per cent compared to sitting all day.
Further research showed taking a walking break every 30 minutes for one minute provided modest benefits for blood sugar levels throughout the day, but walking every 60 minutes — whether for a minute or five — provided no benefit.
Walk it off
For those who work an eight-hour day, combining 10-minute breaks each hour equates 80 minutes worth of steps. While a walk (unless it’s super-brisk) is considered a moderate exercise, an hour-plus is still more than most people do in a single cardio session at the gym or park.
It all boils down to consistency, frequency and longevity. Some tricks to spice up your walking life at work include taking the stairs, parking your car farther than you normally would, avoiding the car when getting coffee or going to lunch, walking around during phone calls and even holding team meetings on foot.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
We Weren’t Supposed to Survive But We Did
We weren’t supposed to survive but we did.
We weren’t supposed to remember but we did.
We weren’t supposed to write but we did.
We weren’t supposed to fight but we did.
We weren’t supposed to organise but we did.
We weren’t supposed to rap but we did.
We weren’t supposed to find allies but we did.
We weren’t supposed to grow communities but we did.
We weren’t supposed to return but WE ARE.
Amira Sakalla
Favourite book: ‘The Art of Learning’ by Josh Waitzkin
Favourite film: Marvel movies
Favourite parkour spot in Dubai: Residence towers in Jumeirah Beach Residence
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The specs
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
