Here is the full transcript of Dr. Stefan Zavalin’s talk titled “Move More. Sit Less.” at TEDxGrandviewHeights 2022 conference.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
The Silent Killer: Sitting
Something you’re doing is destroying your health and happiness. You do it many times a day. You’re probably doing it right now. Sitting.
Sitting is killing you slowly but surely. When you move more and sit less, you will live a longer, happier and healthier life. Let’s look at sitting in our typical work day. Half an hour sitting at breakfast, half an hour sitting on our commute to work, seven hours sitting at our desk according to the Labor Bureau, half an hour sitting at lunch and yet another half an hour sitting as we commute back home.
That’s nine hours so far. At home we spend one hour sitting for dinner, we finish the evening sitting for three hours as we watch TV, play games and scroll social media. That’s 13 hours in just one work day. This number is likely even higher for those working from home.
The Dangers of Prolonged Sitting
During those 13 hours, we are squishing our organs together. How can we expect our heart, our lungs and our digestive system to work well when we squish them together? Within 30 minutes of sitting, we have less blood flowing to our brain and our ability to break down fat drops by as much as 90%. Australian researchers found that sitting more than six hours a day increases our likelihood of anxiety and depression.
Eight hours a day doubles our risk of cardiovascular disease. And 11 or more hours a day shoots up our risk of premature death by 40%. Sitting 13 hours a day is truly killing us.
Why do we sit so much? Our home and work culture invites us to sit a lot.
We even say, “Grab a seat” or “Let’s sit down and get started.” Offices, cars, buses, dining and living rooms, theaters, sporting events and even exercise equipment invite us to sit. This was the case for my patient Alice.
Alice’s Story: A Case Study
Alice came into my physical therapy clinic bent over, wincing with every other step. “It’s my back. It happens when I don’t do my exercises.” I asked her when she last did her exercises.
It had been four months. I asked why she’d stopped. “Well, I felt better and then my job got hectic and everything with the kids going to school. I just didn’t have time.”
I knew I could give Alice more exercises, massage her muscles, mobilize her joints. This would reduce her pain but not resolve the problem that was causing her pain in the first place. “Alice, what do you think is causing your pain?” “I think it’s all the sitting.”
“I know if I can just find the time to exercise, I’ll feel better.” “How likely is it that you’ll be able to find the time to exercise?” “I’m just so busy with work and the kids. I’m stressing out that I cannot do enough. I know I should move more because I’ve been gaining weight and that doesn’t help my back. My husband says he’s too tired to help with the kids. It’s all on me to take care of them when I get home. I am exhausted at the end of the day.”
“When I think about doing more exercise, I can’t seem to find the energy.” Clearly asking Alice to do more exercise was not an option. “You said the pain is from all the sitting. What are you usually doing at work?”
“I sit at my computer and answer phone calls. I go to meetings where we sit around the table. At lunch, I sit in my car and listen to the radio. Sometimes I just sit in silence because it’s the only quiet moment of my day.”
“I sit and look at the trees in a park across the street.” Alice and I continue to pull apart her day to find solutions. I gave her some ideas to help her move more and sit less. A month later, Alice came back to see me.
Alice’s Transformation
She was a transformed woman. What happened? Alice had started taking her lunch by sitting under the trees she liked to watch for 10 minutes. Her sitting turned into a 20-minute walk because she wanted to see more of the park.
For meetings, Alice managed a team of five. I asked her to bring one of her kids’ plush footballs to throw around for the first five minutes of each meeting. Having the ball meant you got to speak. We called it “toss and talk.”
It took a few tries for the team to loosen up, but soon the toss and talk became a highlight of the day. People laughed, stood up, and moved. They were just throwing a ball. Alice started having one-on-one walking meetings in the park, also known as “walk and talks.”
She discovered the magic of walking and talking side by side as opposed to sitting across from each other. Alice was now standing for the majority of her phone calls. And yes, we called them “stand and talks.” In the first month, Alice had a 50% reduction in pain without doing any exercises.
A month later, coworkers were joining her on lunch walks. Stretching became a part of her team’s culture and meetings were more productive. Alice became aware that one hour of standing work was 46% more productive than sitting work. In fact, her team was leading the company in productivity.
Six months later, Alice stopped by my physical therapy clinic. The beaming face of the woman who hobbled in before was unrecognizable. She came to say that she was pain-free. She had more energy. She was less fatigued. When I asked about her husband and kids, I was blown away by her response. Alice and her husband started walking together after dinner. They had each lost 15 pounds and were about to start dance classes.
Alice mentioned that some of the other managers at her company noticed her team’s improved productivity. They quickly adopted toss and talk, walk and talk, and stand and talk. Alice’s company even bought her a standing desk. She felt that her company supported her move more, sit less lifestyle.
This made her even more committed to her company. When Alice and I started, she was burning out, mentally, emotionally, and physically. By moving more and sitting less, she became pain-free. She also positioned herself for a promotion of work, an improved relationship with her family, and a longer, happier, and healthier life.
The Solution: Move More, Sit Less
You may think that an hour of exercise is the antidote to hours of sitting. It’s not. While exercise is good for us, the Australian researchers found that increased exercise did not reduce the damage from sitting too long. The solution is not to exercise more. It is to move more and sit less. Move more, sit less.
How do we do that? Let’s start at home. You can go for a walk, stand at a counter when watching TV, play sports with your kids, turn chores into a game, make home improvements, rearrange your furniture, garden, walk your dog, or even chase your cat. These are small steps to moving more and sitting less at home. But sitting at home makes up just 35% of total sitting time. A bigger challenge is how to move more and sit less at work.
This challenge is overcome by tackling the physical environment and the company culture. Addressing one without the other doesn’t work. You must do both. Changing the physical environment is relatively easy. Replace regular desks with standing desks, supply free gym access, or buy a ping pong table for the break room.
Changing company culture is more difficult. It is also more important. Unlike the physical environment, company culture affects your team in and out of the office.
Implementing Change in the Workplace
It is especially crucial for remote and hybrid work models. It all starts with you. As an enlightened manager like Alice, you must learn, lead, and lend a hand. Start with learning.
Managers can learn more by inviting presenters with experience in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and kinesiology. Learning how moving more and sitting less applies to your team helps to shift your team’s culture. Don’t buy a ping pong table if your team doesn’t like ping pong.
Next, lead by example. Every one of us can be a leader. Take the stairs. Make stand and talk calls. Go for a brisk walk at lunch. Find a reason to stand for 10 minutes every hour you sit. This benefits the company’s bottom line and your waistline.
Finally, lend a hand. Don’t just talk about the benefits of moving more and sitting less. You must support your team to make movement-friendly changes. These include holding toss and talk meetings, having walk and talk sessions, or providing flexible work schedules for daily exercise. After Alice’s success, one of her fellow managers, Eric, came to see me. Eric managed a remote team who worked from their homes in different states and time zones.
Eric’s Remote Team Strategy
I mentored Eric on options he could offer his team to foster a move more, sit less culture. Here’s what Eric did to learn, lead, and lend a hand. For learning, Eric found a virtual trainer to join their monthly meeting and lead a mid-afternoon stretching session. Eric also invited team members to present health tips at their weekly meetings.
Eric led by standing for all virtual calls and posting his step counts each week. He lent a hand by getting approval for his team to purchase standing desks. On top of this, Eric and I organized a step count contest. The winner was not whoever got the most steps, but who had the most improvement.
In three months, we changed his team’s culture. The productivity, morale, and energy of his team skyrocketed. By moving more and sitting less, you and your team will have less aches and pains. Your productivity, morale, and focus will go up.
Your sick days, distractions, and doctor visits will go down. You’ll transform both personally and professionally. Stop destroying your health and happiness. Live a longer, happier, and healthier life. Move more, sit less.
