A lot of research has been done about how much exercise we should do to live a healthy lifestyle. On the other hand research has shown that on top of this you should also get your butt of your chair more often. The message is, move more and sit less.

These guidelines are officially known as ‘Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines’, and they not only focus on the exercise part but also on the amount of time we spend being sedentary. In other words the time spent doing physical inactive tasks such as sitting or lying down.

Experts say that we are sedentary on an average for about 7 to 10 hours a day which doesn’t even include sleeping time.

Studies have found that sedentary behaviour can be the cause of: obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, etc. In a nutshell, the goal is to try and reach the recommended time of daily exercising but on top of this to break your sedentary lifestyle by standing up, walking around regularly. Experts suggest you should aim not to sit down for longer then 20 to 30 minutes.

So how can we do this? Here are a few ideas.

At work:

• Try and encourage standing or walking meetings or if this doesn’t work you could have a standing break.
• Join one of our lunchtime CBD Domain bootcamp sessions or go for a walk/run in the park.
• Stand up when you are on the phone or reading emails.
• Set up your office material such as printers, rubbish bins, drawers away from your desk so you need to get out of your chair.
• Try and walk to your colleagues to talk to them instead of sending an email.
• Put little reminders to get of your chair more often.
• Drink more water which will make you go the toilet more often.

At home

• Stand up or walk when on the phone.
• Stand up when you’re watching TV and doing domestic chores such as ironing or folding washing.
• Embrace domestic chores.
• Work in the garden.
• Wash your car yourself instead of taking it to the carwash.
• Walk or ride a bike instead of using the car.