According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) the greatest public health problem at the beginning of the 21st century is not cigarettes or booze or heroin, but our lack of physical activity. The British government recommends each person get 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week and Uncle Sam says about the same. Even at that, only 7% of the population fulfills the quota. The rest of us spend hours sitting in our offices, our cars, and our couches while we watch TV. You are probably sitting down as you read this so I am helping to kill you.
Dr. Mike Loosemore, the director of exercise medicine at University College Hospital in London, has a simple solution – just stand up. He says there is now enormous evidence that simply standing makes huge differences to your health. He estimates that being on your feet for just three hours a day can extend your life by two years!
You may be one of those who think standing during the worship music at our contemporary service is too much for you. Apparently we should make you stand during the sermon, too.
Low-level activity, even regularly getting off your seat, can change your life forever. Dr. Loosemore says active individuals reduce their risk of heart disease by 40% against their inactive counterparts.
Other reductions are similarly extraordinary. High blood pressure can be lessened by almost 50%, the risk of recurrent breast cancer by almost 50% while the likelihood of colon cancer goes down by over 60%.
It has great mental benefits, too, with the risk of developing of Alzheimer’s disease decreased by a third and depression eased as effectively as Prozac or visiting a psychiatrist.
Even the Bible extols the virtues of standing, sort of. It uses it as a metaphor for alertness and action. So in 1 Corinthians 16:13 Paul says, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.” It is not as appropriate to challenge someone to firmness and courage if you are sitting on your tush.
I intend to go a step farther than standing. My wife and I have ordered two Cannondale mountain bikes with disk brakes, zillions of gears and hard narrow little seats that are torture on the gluteus maximus muscle, of which mine is rather ample right now. By the end of the summer it will have disappeared as I power up vertical cliff faces. I will cling to the promise of Psalm 18:32-33:
“It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.”
How well are you standing?
________
Adapted from the article “Exercise guidelines ‘hard to meet’,” Dr. Mike Loosemore of University College Hospital in London, June 19, 2014. < http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27904822 >.