Everyday Health Tips

Being Restless May Be Good for Your Health

Healy et al (2008), Diabetes Care

A study in the Diabetes Care journal found health benefits to breaking up your sedentary (sitting still) time more often. They found that people who break up their time sitting still more often by getting up and moving around tend to have better markers of health regardless of how much vigorous exercise they do, or the total time they spend sedentary. They tended to have better blood glucose, blood cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, waist circumference, and markers of pre-diabetes than people who didn’t break up their sedentary time as often.

This suggests there is a short-term change in your metabolism and hormones in response to sitting still for extended periods, making your body store and conserve more fat and driving your health markers in an unfavorable direction. This effect also seems to happen despite the protective and beneficial effects of regular vigorous exercise.

Practical tip: Whenever sitting still for extended periods such as working at a desk, working on a computer or watching TV, make sure you break it up occasionally. Get up and pour yourself a glass of water, talk to people instead of relying only on emails, have a healthy snack such as nuts in the kitchen instead of on your desk, change the channel on the TV instead of using a remote. The bottom line is, the more often you get up and move around the more your health and bum will thank you.



Drinking Water Will Help Me Burn More Energy?

Boschmann et al (2003), Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

A study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that drinking cold water actually requires you to burn more energy. They found that people who drink around 2 litres of water per day increase their energy expenditure by 400kJ, burning off the equivalent of two rice cakes. How is this possible?

The study found that drinking 500mL of cold water on an empty stomach increases energy expenditure by 30% for more than an hour. Part of this is thought to be the energy used to heat the water to body temperature. The other portion is due to the water stimulating your sympathetic nervous system and adrenal receptors, making you more alert while mobilising and burning more energy.

Practical tip: Drink 500mL of cold water four times a day, preferably spaced out and on an empty stomach. Make sure that you drink it in sips to ensure better absorption. Even better would be to drink iced Green Tea, as Green Tea contains compounds that excite the same pathways as found in this study and may burn even more energy than water alone. Make sure you don’t have the water with any sugar as this will counter the beneficial effects.