The 30 minutes of exercise a day myth
By Leticia Trejo
The beliefs that dwell deep in our minds are the hardest to eradicate. For many years I firmly believed that 30 minutes of physical activity a day was what everyone needed to be fit and improve their health. That is, until I read an interesting piece of research that convincingly proved the 30 minutes a day claim was a myth.
Researchers chose 300 people from a company with a working schedule from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 150 of them (office administrative workers) were asked to do 30 minutes of exercise a day. They could choose between going to the gym, getting on a treadmill or going for a walk outdoors. The other 150 – workers from the cleaning and maintenance service of offices throughout the building – were asked to continue their daily activities. Evaluation was through a blood test at the beginning of the study that measured levels of triglycerides, cholesterol and sugar. This evaluation was repeated after six months. The surprise for everyone was that the cleaning and maintenance workers had better test results than those who integrated 30 minutes of exercise into their daily routine.
This is not to say that exercise doesn’t work, but that sedentary lifestyles can kill us. Some scientists even say that sitting at a desk for eight hours is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
Ian Jansen, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at the Physical Activity and Obesity Research Institute in Canada. In addition to this study, he has conducted many more on the influence of sedentary behavior on health.
This reminds me of the time I heard – during an international congress – the perfect formula for maintaining physical health. A very important lecturer gave a talk full of knowledge and wisdom about stress, exercise and life habits. In the question and answer segment someone asked him, «Professor, what is the ideal formula to be in shape?» He answered, «Go for a walk with your dog three times a day, after every meal… whether you have a dog or not.» The auditorium was full of laughter, but he was right. Our lives should be physically more active. For example: use the car less; walk more to stores, banks and malls; do the house cleaning yourself; and walk 20 minutes after every meal.
A doctor who was my friend and student in yoga classes told me another way. He said when a patient asked him how often they had to exercise he would answer, just every time you eat.
This applies perfectly to people who are not physically active, because Dr. Jansen studies sedentary lifestyles. But for people who have been athletes, gym lovers, fitness friends or intense marathon runners, he applies a different rule: Relax the same amount of time they trained. An alternative is that after an intense workout, they should not repeat the activity until after 24 hours so that there is a good recovery. We will write about these intense people in the next edition. In the meantime, I hope you had a happy Day of Love and Friendship on February 14, and received and delivered great amounts of kindness and gentleness.
Translated by Mike Rogers
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