Shortly before I retired, the saying, “sitting is the new smoking,” was popularized by Dr. James Levine, Director of the Mayo Clinic at Arizona State University. This catchy phrase is supported by recent research that shows a reduction in the risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and back pain with one simple lifestyle change: reduce the time you spend sitting. This is generally easier said than done.
Great. I had just about wrapped up the final twenty-seven years of my career, mostly desk-bound, and indeed experiencing weight gain and muscle stiffness that I battled when I got home during evenings and on weekends – if I wasn’t too tired.
My new Apple Watch has a function that gently reminds me to stand up once every fifty minutes and move around a bit. I could have used this to great benefit in the workplace on days other than those when donuts at the secretary’s desk similarly reminded that it was time to move. The watch uses an accelerometer to identify movement, so arm motion equivalent to changing from a seated to a standing position followed by a minute’s walk around with your arms swinging helps to register this. Come to think of it, fifteen feet to the donut box followed by a mouth salute with a Bavarian cream might not have passed muster.
And now here I sit in a new lifestyle replete with sedentary dangers, my little watch tickling my wrist every so often and visually rewarding me when I follow its advice. The challenge in the absence of work is not to succumb to a range of new sitting activities like the following:
1. Breakfast. This is by far our favorite time of the day. Fresh out of bed, having slept until perhaps 9am, our need for the sweet, warm comfort of coffee frequently glues us to our backsides for up to two hours. No more choking down half a bagel and some fruit before walking the dog in the rain and driving to the office in heavy traffic knowing full well you’ll be late, but doing your best to compress time. No, now we can make an egg scramble, crack the seal on a package of pastries and enjoy multiple cycles of the Keurig, wondering if we’ll have time for lunch before dinnertime.
2. Two Mid-Day Versions of Relaxation: I am fortunate to have retired to the Southwest Gulf of Florida. I am currently writing this Blog about sitting on my butt while sitting on my butt, outside early in March. It is 85 degrees, the sun is shining and a gentle breeze is rustling several palm trees along the canal behind our house. I could quite literally spend hours doing this, and problem #1 being combined with problem #2, have breakfasted on the “lanai” many, many times.
I realize that many folks choose to retire up north, and can enjoy watching a gentle snow falling outside windows facing the serenity of their backyards. A crackling fireplace adds to the ambiance, and I’m sure we would have become quite pleasantly stuck to our chairs during the winter months had we retired in place.
3. Evening Television: That vast wasteland has been tapped. By about 8pm we are firmly committed to streaming any of a variety of programs from one of at least four sources. This is done with feet up – a modification to the sitting position – and with a favorite snack, for the rest of the day. This is an insanely unhealthy lifestyle choice, but one that we like immensely.
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