You wake up and have breakfast at the table, you travel to work or school sitting down to sit at your desk all day, you travel back home sitting down and plop down on your couch. We all sit together far too much. It is recommended to exercise for half an hour every day, but also to stretch your legs every half hour. Why? You can read that here.
Brain and heart
Professor of neuropsychology and movement sciences Erik Scherder advocates that we all exercise for three minutes every 30 minutes. The young people from school and the employees from behind their desks. Stretching your legs and arms is important for everyone. It has an enormous positive influence on your brain, but not only does it make your brain work better, so does your heart. More blood is pumped to your brain, this provides more oxygen and glucose to your brain and this in turn ensures that you perform better. The oxygen and glucose ensure that messages are sent from one brain cell to another. That’s exactly what you need during a lecture or a working day.
For your mental health
You also gain more control over your emotions. You also feel better mentally. By exercising you activate parts of the brain that inhibit stress, negativity and not feeling well.
For your physical health
Walking for at least half an hour every day makes a big difference to your short-term physical health. This triggers the substance that ensures direct vasodilation. This is important for your metabolism. Walking ten times for three minutes is of no use, because your body needs longer to get the vasodilation going. It is still highly recommended to get up every half hour. This has to do with your sugar balance, your blood flow and their long-term effect. If you exercise for three minutes every half hour, your sensitivity to insulin increases. This reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Your blood flow and sugar balance are OK again after three minutes, according to Erik Scherder.
Get a glass of water, get up while talking on the phone, get some fresh air during the break, walk to the copier and walk to the bus stop or park your car a little further away. These small adjustments during the day make a positive change for your health. Start of this week!
