YOUR 2024 BRAIN BRAWN MINI RESOLUTION EXERCISE: WEEK 5 • THE CONCLUSION

Resisting a Sedentary Lifestyle for the Long Haul
 
Over these past few weeks, we’ve been talking about exercise—planned and intentional physical exertion—as a critical component of a comprehensive lifestyle program to improve cognitive function and prevent cognitive decline. Equally important, but in different ways, is physical activity—as in the type that simply occurs through living your life, known as Activities of Daily Living or ADLs.

Moving often throughout the day to avoid sedentary behavior is another critical component for your comprehensive lifestyle program for brain health.

Not-so-fun fact: The benefits of planned, intentional physical exertion are cancelled out if the individual finds themselves sedentary the rest of the day. People who do so are called "active couch potatoes."

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10,000 Steps a Day

And that brings us to the idea behind walking 10,000 steps a day. You see, that recommendation is actually not about going for a 5-mile walk or jog. Instead, it is about avoiding sedentary behavior. It is a metric for physical activity. Sitting is problematic, so the objective is to fight gravity by standing up frequently and moving the body often.
 
Do your ADLs keep your body in motion, or do you sit for most of the day?
Even if you exercise with intention one hour a day, you are still considered sedentary if your steps are limited on average to about 2,700 steps a day (note: if you jog 5 miles a day (10,000 steps) but your step count outside that intentional activity is in the 2,700-step range, then you are still considered sedentary).
 
Are more steps equal to better health?
Research has demonstrated more steps (i.e., movement/fighting gravity) equals reduced BMI, and lower rates of diabetes and hypertension, and better cognitive function. At present, they have not elucidated the magic number of steps, just that getting in more steps equals more physical activity, which, in turn, equals better cognitive function.

​Tips to Help You Stay Active

So, now that we know a little bit more about counting our steps, how do you move even more? Defy gravity more? Step up your step count? Even if you are not necessarily logging your daily steps, it still counts towards your health! Below are some ideas, feel free to incorporate those that will work best for you.

If you are solely interested in your daily step count, here are a few top-rated pedometers to consider.

Increasing general movement throughout the day:

• Stand/walk around when speaking on the phone.
• Do your own housecleaning or gardening. (And save money as a bonus!)
• Walk the dog the long way home. (Studies show dog owners live longer and have lower BP, cholesterol and triglycerides!)
• Take your coffee break outside with a friend for a stroll, weather permitting.
• Get off the couch at each commercial break. Even better? Lose the clicker and instead, get up to change the channel or volume (if your TV still has physical buttons 😉)
• Walk the golf course, skip the cart.
• Go shopping.
• Plan some fun that involves walking such as a museum, art gallery, flea market, street fair, etc.

 
Getting around:

• Get off the bus or subway one stop earlier and walk the rest of the way to your destination.
• Walk errands.
• Take the stairs down, elevator up.
• Don’t use the drive-through window. Instead, park and walk inside.
• Park as far away from the store door as possible.

 
At work (if you are working in an office setting):

• Use the printer/copier farthest from your desk.
• Walk to your coworkers’ desks, rather than call or email them.
• Set a timer to go off every 20 minutes to stand up and walk around.

Get out of the office at least 20 minutes each day to walk outside (this is a great mental health break, too!).

Exercise & Brain Health

This year, Motivated Mondays is dedicated to fighting cognitive decline. Exercise has been extensively studied as a critical component of any brain health program.
 
Exercise increases brain volume (bigger brains!), causes the secretion of BDNF (Miracle Grow for the brain!), improves blood flow to the brain bringing with it critical oxygen and nutrients, "uses up" excessive blood sugar and makes cells more sensitive to insulin, improves sleep which combats oxidative neurological stress, and improves our physiological resilience to stress and anxiety.
 
As mentioned above, even if one exercises with intensity for one hour a day, those brain benefits are offset if the rest of the day is spent sitting. Thus, we want to exercise AND engage in physical activity throughout the day. Here is an interesting look at five things that happen when we stop exercising. 

For our Track 1 participants—we focused on getting started, overcoming obstacles and staying motivated. 
 
For those in Track 2—we focused on intensity and explored three modalities- cardio-respiratory exercise, strength training and mind-body exercises.

...for both tracks - KEEP GOING! 
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