5/7 Monday Day 7 SLBC: Check Your Environment
themedalist
Posts: 3,218 Member
Theme: Check Your Environment
Your environment, the physical space and surroundings that you live and work in, has a big impact on whether you sit most the time or regularly get up and move. Consider your living room. Don't most of the chairs in your living room face the TV? That makes it really easy to sit and stay seated.
Today's Challenge: Stand up and read or scan the articles below as to how your environment shapes your habits and behaviors. Then, as you move through your day, look critically at your surroundings. How does the current set-up make it easy for you to stay seated? What could you change? Let's take a hard look at the physical spaces we live in – both at home and at work. How can we make our physical space more conducive to getting up and moving throughout the day?
And please post and share with our group what you've observed and what changes you've made. We can all learn from each other.
Some ideas:
1. Put the remote on top of the TV so that you have to get up to change the channel.
2. Put your walking shoes out where they are visible to cue you to go for a walk
3. Can you move a piece of exercise equipment into your living room so that you can exercise while watching TV?
4. Move the items on your desk that you use frequently (such as a stapler) away from you. Just putting them on your bookcase or file cabinet means you'll have to stand up to use them.
5. Move your trash and/or recycling containers away from your desk so that you regularly get up and move.
Alternative Challenge: There is no alternative challenge today. Our environment has such a profound impact on what we do that I hope you'll spend some time today scanning and then modifying your home, work, and other environments to make it easier for you to sit less and adopt other healthy habits.
Suggested Readings:
How to Improve Your Health and Productivity Without Thinking
https://jamesclear.com/environment-design-organ-donation
Why Your Environment is the Biggest Factor in Changing Your Life
https://www.inc.com/melissa-chu/its-possible-to-design-your-environment-to-help-yo.html
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Standing Desks and Sit-Stand Desks
These modern desks are a great example of how our environment shapes our habits. If you have a standing only desk, you don't have the option of sitting at your desk. If you are considering a standing desk, a sit-stand workstation, or another device to help you stand/move more, a great resource to check out is startstanding.org. They have buying guides and reviews of lots of better office equipment. They also have lots of articles and blogs about sitting less and moving more. I've collaborated before with the people at startstanding.org and I trust their guidance.
@infinitynevermore had asked about sit-stand desks on our Day 1 challenge. I hope this info is helpful.1 -
I like to have a glass of water next to me so that I’ll drink enough water. One environmental change that I’m making is to make the glass smaller so that I will need to get up and refill it more often. I think if I eliminated the glass completely I’d lose the visual prompt and would drink less water. But a smaller glass/mug will be very useful.7
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I stand in my kitchen as I cook, many times marching in place as I read on my iPad or watch TV. That's an hour of movement in most cases.6
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I stand in my kitchen as I cook, many times marching in place as I read on my iPad or watch TV. That's an hour of movement in most cases.
It sounds like your environment is already cueing you to be more active, @Cindy781. “I’m in the kitchen to cook, but let me get my steps in” kind of thing. Well done!0 -
Even if you can’t immediately think of some changes to make to your physical spaces now, some ideas may come later. If this info is helpful to you, I’d appreciate hearing that through your post. Posting to our daily challenge threads gives me feedback on whether the challenges are useful to you or not and how you might be implementing them in your life. Hearing from you through your comments and feedback is very motivating to me!
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I sit on my butt most of the day at work - so now, as soon as the phone rings - I get up and walk around while talking. I also set my 'alarm' to 1.5 hours - if I have been sitting, I get up and move. Its funny how we just don't realize how much we sit... When I get home, I do not allow myself to watch tv (while sitting) until I get I have at least 30 minutes of 'walking' or moving each day. This week its 35 minutes - I am trying to up it each week.4
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I think I will follow your lead on grabbing a smaller glass for drinking water. I normally fill a 20 to 25 oz stainless steel bottle so I can easily keep track of how much I drink, but then I don't get up and fill it up very often.
I also plan to try to stand during Skype meetings at my desk at work. It's crazy how much I sit in this new job. I no longer have a stand-up desk, which is a bummer, but I can at least stand and sway while I listen.
I'm also going to move a rocking chair into the livingroom so I sit less on the reclining couch at night. This will also be easier for me to get out of and move around during commercials and help with my posture!
I'll keep looking for other things I can change.2 -
I’ve given my rebounder and dumbbells a home in the living room right in front of the tv. Easy to get a bit of movement in during the evening news. I also do squats and other exercises ( like dancing) when washing dishes, tidying, or preparing food.3
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Our only TV is in our downstairs family room. It's cozy in the evenings but too dark and unwelcoming during the day, so I rarely want to watch TV during daylight hours. Reading is the habitual draw for me to sit in my deep oversized chair, whether I'm curled up with a novel or reading Google searches on my laptop.
Lately, I have really benefited by moving my laptop to the kitchen counter, (thank you @themedalist ), separating my Reading For Enjoyment Time from my Distracted Computer Time. I must stand to use my laptop. I am rewarding myself with a short window (up to one hour) before dinner to sit and relax and read my book, plus about 20-30 minutes more reading at bedtime.
My hobby income is my more challenging task to do while standing. I can (and will) stand more when using the computer or the phone, but I must be seated and remain steady-handed when working with fine precision tools under a magnifying lamp. My chair is an exercise ball (one with a frame on wheels) which allows me to rotate my hips and stretch my spine now and then at least, and I must get up fairly frequently to retrieve materials. But that hobby is a nonissue for the time being because I have taken an indefinite hiatus from it while I've been focused lately (more like hyper-focused) on monitoring my foods and experimenting with new recipes, getting in walks and learning/practicing asanas (yoga positions). I will soon need to figure out how to begin adding my hobby/income back into my daily routines. I've lost sight of a number of loose ends lately while trying to add new habits.
So my plan today is to look with fresh eyes at my surroundings and hopefully begin to formulate a new TO DO list organized by priority. I will try to remain standing while I work on the list.
I easily get distracted and demotivated when trying to make lists, but building good habits is crucial for me in managing my Adult ADD Inattentive type with Hyper-Focus Perfectionism (...ugh!...)
When I do manage to complete something, it is "too well done" at the expense of other forgotten tasks. I'm alternately distracted then deeply lost in a single pursuit (such as writing this comment; I've spent far too long on it already). It is a frustrating challenge for me to switch gears and work on many different tasks in a day. For now, it is my health. "Multi-task"? What is that? Ahahaha! 
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I sit on my butt most of the day at work - so now, as soon as the phone rings - I get up and walk around while talking. I also set my 'alarm' to 1.5 hours - if I have been sitting, I get up and move. Its funny how we just don't realize how much we sit... When I get home, I do not allow myself to watch tv (while sitting) until I get I have at least 30 minutes of 'walking' or moving each day. This week its 35 minutes - I am trying to up it each week.
So true, @ starryk02, we don’t realize how much we sit until we start paying attention to it. I like your system of “earning“ your TV sitting time. Sitting should not be demonized, but it is something we should watch.0 -
OConnell5483 wrote: »I think I will follow your lead on grabbing a smaller glass for drinking water. I normally fill a 20 to 25 oz stainless steel bottle so I can easily keep track of how much I drink, but then I don't get up and fill it up very often.
I also plan to try to stand during Skype meetings at my desk at work. It's crazy how much I sit in this new job. I no longer have a stand-up desk, which is a bummer, but I can at least stand and sway while I listen.
I'm also going to move a rocking chair into the livingroom so I sit less on the reclining couch at night. This will also be easier for me to get out of and move around during commercials and help with my posture!
I'll keep looking for other things I can change.
Standing during Skype meetings is a terrific way to Skype less, @OConnell5483. And your rocking chair comment has me intrigued… we know that fidgeting in a chair has merits. Logically, active rocking might be helpful too. I don’t know the answer that question, but I’ll reach out to some folks and see if I can get some input.1 -
I’ve given my rebounder and dumbbells a home in the living room right in front of the tv. Easy to get a bit of movement in during the evening news. I also do squats and other exercises ( like dancing) when washing dishes, tidying, or preparing food.
Having exercise equipment right in your living room is an environmental cue that’s hard to miss. Great suggestion, @ideabaker. Rooms and activities make good triggers too, so working in a little more exercise as you do food prep and clean up makes a lot of sense. Well done!0 -
Our only TV is in our downstairs family room. It's cozy in the evenings but too dark and unwelcoming during the day, so I rarely want to watch TV during daylight hours. Reading is the habitual draw for me to sit in my deep oversized chair, whether I'm curled up with a novel or reading Google searches on my laptop.
Lately, I have really benefited by moving my laptop to the kitchen counter, (thank you @themedalist ), separating my Reading For Enjoyment Time from my Distracted Computer Time. I must stand to use my laptop. I am rewarding myself with a short window (up to one hour) before dinner to sit and relax and read my book, plus about 20-30 minutes more reading at bedtime.
My hobby income is my more challenging task to do while standing. I can (and will) stand more when using the computer or the phone, but I must be seated and remain steady-handed when working with fine precision tools under a magnifying lamp. My chair is an exercise ball (one with a frame on wheels) which allows me to rotate my hips and stretch my spine now and then at least, and I must get up fairly frequently to retrieve materials. But that hobby is a nonissue for the time being because I have taken an indefinite hiatus from it while I've been focused lately (more like hyper-focused) on monitoring my foods and experimenting with new recipes, getting in walks and learning/practicing asanas (yoga positions). I will soon need to figure out how to begin adding my hobby/income back into my daily routines. I've lost sight of a number of loose ends lately while trying to add new habits.
So my plan today is to look with fresh eyes at my surroundings and hopefully begin to formulate a new TO DO list organized by priority. I will try to remain standing while I work on the list.
I easily get distracted and demotivated when trying to make lists, but building good habits is crucial for me in managing my Adult ADD Inattentive type with Hyper-Focus Perfectionism (...ugh!...) When I do manage to complete something, it is "too well done" at the expense of other forgotten tasks. I'm alternately distracted then deeply lost in a single pursuit (such as writing this comment; I've spent far too long on it already). It is a frustrating challenge for me to switch gears and work on many different tasks in a day. For now, it is my health. "Multi-task"? What is that? Ahahaha!
There are so many nudges to sit, @talers, and fortunately many of them can be countered in creative ways that result in sitting less. You are clearly committed to your improving your health and you’re backing up that commitment with actions. I’m glad Boot Camp is helpful to you. You are a success story in the making!
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1. I turn on my TV with the remote and then set it down wherever I happen to walk next: kitchen, bedroom, bathroom. It's a marathon just hunting it down to change the channel.
2. I would, but I'd probably end up tripping over them
3. I moved my mini-stepper to the living room a couple weeks ago, and I have been using more frequently now.
4. I have a rolling chair and I just roll around my office. I'll make a conscious effort to walk.
5. Again, I'd be tripping over them if I did that.
I have a lot of nudges to sit, but thankfully, I've been feeling the nudge to get up an move. I feel better when I get up stretch or walk around every half hour.2 -
MmamabearR wrote: »1. I turn on my TV with the remote and then set it down wherever I happen to walk next: kitchen, bedroom, bathroom. It's a marathon just hunting it down to change the channel.
2. I would, but I'd probably end up tripping over them
3. I moved my mini-stepper to the living room a couple weeks ago, and I have been using more frequently now.
4. I have a rolling chair and I just roll around my office. I'll make a conscious effort to walk.
5. Again, I'd be tripping over them if I did that.
I have a lot of nudges to sit, but thankfully, I've been feeling the nudge to get up an move. I feel better when I get up stretch or walk around every half hour.
Well done, @MmamabearR! I think the best reward for sitting less is feeling better.2 -
This challenge comes at a good time for me since I am transitioning to only working away from home one day per week. Online classes tie me so much more to the computer. Still, being home gives me so much more flexibility. I'm still surveying my environment for tweaks.
I do have my sneakers by my bed to remind me to get moving right away in the morning (this is also recommended in case of earthquake). I'm always setting the remote down in the wrong place, so I guess I've got that one covered, too. 3 -
I love the idea of getting up for more water and moving the remote across the room. Today I dug out my step for step aerobics and put in the playroom (this is where I watch tv). I also added resistance bands, stability ball and hula hoop. This should be fun!4
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@77tes and @PinkyPan1, it sounds like you both have embraced this challenge!1
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This discussion has been closed.