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Do you spend most of your day sitting in a chair, on a couch, or in a car? If you tend to sit more often than you stand and move, you may be increasing your risk for developing a myriad of serious health conditions. For instance, sedentary people face greater risks of succumbing to heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, and depression. Your odds of becoming obese also increase drastically if you sit for extended periods of time each day. Thankfully, regardless of their profession, most people can easily incorporate more standing and moving into their daily lives. The following 7 ways to avoid sitting all day are great places to start.

Walk to the Mailbox

If you have a mailbox at your home, do you casually drive up to it in order to retrieve your mail every day after work? Instead of driving to your mailbox each day, walk to it. Regardless of the distance, you will burn a few calories; and, you can enjoy the warm sunshine on your face in the process.

Stand Up While Talking on the Phone

Nowadays, the average American spends copious amounts of time talking on his or her phone each day. If you work in an office, one of your principal duties may be talking on the phone to customers. To improve your health and overall wellbeing, consider standing up every time you talk to someone on the phone. You may be surprised how many calories you can burn from standing an extra couple of hours each day. If you want to improve your health even more, consider walking around a room while conversing with someone on the phone.

Stand Up During Commercials

After a long day at the office, many people look forward to watching their favorite television programs at night. To add some activity to your nightly routine, stand up whenever commercials interrupt whatever you’re watching on television. Better yet, exercise during the commercials. Some great ideas include marching in place, doing push-ups, or working out with dumbbells.

Choose the Farthest Parking Spot

Whenever you arrive at your destination, do you circle the parking lot repeatedly in order to find the closest parking space to the front door? If you are guilty of this, you’re not alone. Instead of looking for the closest parking spot to a building’s entrance, strive to secure the farthest one. In accomplishing this task, you can walk several extra steps. In the process, you will burn calories, attain more energy, and feel better about yourself.

Walk During Your Lunch Break

If you get a whole hour’s break for lunch, consider walking for a few minutes before you eat. If you have a particularly stressful job, walking may calm you. Exercising before lunch may also cause you to consume less calories at mealtime.

Schedule a Walking Meeting

Do you and your colleagues usually schedule meetings in a conference room? Perhaps, you have most of your meetings at a favorite restaurant. Instead of these venues, consider opting for a walking meeting next time. Everyone can enjoy getting some exercise while planning next year’s budget, talking about last month’s revenue decrease, or conversing about some other business concern.

Skip the Takeout

If you dine out more often than you cook at home, you may want to consider reversing this trend. By preparing your own meals, you will add quite a bit of standing time to your day. You will need to stand in order to cook. After dinner, you can stand while washing the dishes.

The health risks associated with prolonged periods of sitting are undeniable. If you know you sit too much during the day, don’t lose hope. With some creativity, you can improve your routine and begin the journey to better health and happiness.

AllCare Pharmacy and Medical Supply is your neighborhood Salinas Pharmacy, you are welcome to stop in for a visit to meet the staff, pharmacists and see the great deals that will help you provide better healthcare for yourself and your loved ones.

Determining Life Expectancy with the Sitting Rising Test

It’s a sad fact, but many of us don’t live the healthiest lifestyles that we can. Some of us are prone to poor health either way. The big question is how do these factors impact your estimated life expectancy overall? Can you really determine how long you’ll live with or without numerous medical examinations? Discovering your estimated life expectancy is actually quite simple and doesn’t require any trips to the doctor. This is achieved through a Sitting Rising Test or SRT.

Brief History of the Sitting Rising Test

Invented by the Brazilian medical professional, Dr. Claudio Gil Araujo, the SRT is designed to determine your chances of dying within the next five years by testing how much stress your heart can handle before it shows signs of fatigue. Testing the strength of the heart through stress tests is not a new practice. Doctors have been using it in medical environments for years to help determine estimated longevity and risk of heart attacks and heart disease. However, the SRT was created to allow anyone to estimate their longevity in their own home.

In fact, the SRT could be more effective than the stress tests commonly implemented in hospitals. Typical cardiac stress tests involve aerobic tasks such as walking, running or biking. However, Dr. Araujo discovered that other actions such as bending over, lifting objects and balancing also put stress on the body and heart in other ways that help truly test the body’s endurance and health.

Understanding the Point System

Going down into a sitting position is worth five points.
Getting up into a standing position from the sitting position is worth another five points.
Points will be deducted based on certain actions.
Each occurrence of using a hand, arm or knee to support you as you try to go up, down or trying to achieve the proper seated position will result in a point deduction.
You lose a half point for every time that you lose your balance.
For every point that you keep, your mortality rate from natural causes will be estimated at being 21% lower over a five year period.
Scores below three have estimated mortality rates from natural causes at being five times higher than average.

Performing the Sitting Rising Test

The main goal of the SRT is to achieve a sitting position and stand up from the sitting position with as little assistance as possible. While this may not seem like a big chore, it’s more of a strain on the body than you might think. This is especially true considering just how the test is meant to be performed.

The first step is preparation. Put on some comfortable and preferably stretchy clothes to ensure that your body’s not being strained anywhere while performing the test. It’s also a good idea to go barefoot to allow maximum mobility. Ensure that at least one person is nearby to help you with the test. This is to prevent injury, provide assistance if necessary and ensure that the test is being performed properly.

Finally, it’s time to perform the test. Cross your feet and get into a seated position. Take your time, and don’t be preoccupied with trying not to support yourself. This is especially important if you have back or leg problems. If you need help, then it’s more important to get it than risk injury. Once you’re properly seated, try to get into a standing position. Tally all violations and subtract them from ten to determine your final score.

Remember, the point of the test is to measure your overall health in response to common actions that cause stress on the body. Don’t take your results as great or terrible news since several factors can come into play both in your results and your health. Take the test as an indicator that you should adopt better health strategies or continue using the ones that you’re already practicing. You can improve your results, your health and increase your life expectancy with some hard work and diligence.