A couple of decades ago when I worked in Japan, I would see employees at a variety of businesses participating in group exercises every morning. I silently mocked this ritual with all the Canadian condescension I could muster, thinking, "This would never fly in Canada." I thought the same thing about karaoke. An equally strange activity, I assuredly concluded.
Clearly, I'm not a trendspotter. But awfully judgmental.
Fastforward 20 years and now in a job that has me in front of a computer for eight hours a day, the idea of an employee exercise session has huge appeal. Twice a day would be great. By the time Friday rolls around, I'm ready to jump out of my skin with physical and mental frustration from sitting on my tuckus for 40 hours a week (which doesn't include the 30- to 45-minute twice daily commute.)
I am part of the ranks that surely number in the millions. The bulk of us are probably parents who work through lunch to leave early (if we're allowed) and get home to make a quick dinner and whisk our children off to their various activities where we sit around watching them do their sporty stuff. Damn those bank-account draining, dream-killing, waist-thickening children of mine. But I do so love them. (I have started doing my own sporty stuff now.)
I mention all of this as April 8 to 12 marks the second annual Sneak It In Week, a ParticipACTION initiative to get workers to incorporate 10 minutes of heart-pumping exercise throughout their workday for a total of 150 minutes per week.
According to a recent survey, almost 70 per cent of British Columbians would rather get a few extra minutes of sleep than wake up to exercise. That would include me. I'm not keen on getting up when it's pitch black, cold and rainy in the winter. In the summer and fall, I'm too afraid I'll run into a bear in the wee hours of the morning.
The ideal, of course, is to incorporate exercise into the daily commute, like biking. But that requires the luxury of time, which is at a premium for most of us. So I am embracing Sneak It In. So should you. It could extend your life.
According to the aforementioned survey, 64 per cent of Canadians consider workplace exercise to be acceptable although only 11 per cent of us actually do any.
"Sitting is the new smoking," ParticipACTION CEO Kelly Murumets said over the phone from Toronto. "You must get enough physical activity or you will potentially contract one of 25 chronic diseases earlier than you should. Researchers have told us there are measurable health benefits in getting the 150 minutes a week in 10-minute bouts of exercise and what we know is that employees take 10 minutes to sneak in time on Facebook, or sneak in time on calls home to the kids_ so what we're saying is while you're sneaking it in, sneak in a little bit of physical activity."
Murumets notes that a healthy and happy employee is also more productive employee with a lower absenteeism rate, which is an economic benefit to any company. But is everyone getting it? "Whether all employers understand that we're not sure," she said. "We know that you are less healthy if you sit for long periods of time regardless if you get the 150 minutes in. Sedentary behaviour is unhealthy_ so get up and get moving throughout the day."
ParticipAction offers a few obvious exercise suggestions such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, getting off the bus a stop or two earlier, starting a lunchtime walking group. Some suggestions that won't work in my case include a walking meeting with colleagues. As much as I'd love to stretch my legs and walk around Vanier Park for our twice weekly story meetings, the idea isn't feasible. I need to be able to jot things down and can't really do that while holding an umbrella.
But I need to move my body as much as possible. So once I complete this column, I promise to- every day-climb the stairs for five minutes, do three-minutes of jumping jacks at my desk (to be timed by my supportive and highly amused co-workers) and as many push-ups I can muster in two minutes. Maybe I can manage a few more if I do the knee pushups (also known as the girl pushups to some). Ganbatte, Fiona-san, as they'd say in Japan.
And now that the days are longer, as many evenings as possible will be spent at the park throwing the frisbee around, heading to the BMX track, skipping rope (if I can find a proper boxing-style skipping rope) or powerwalking through the neighbourhood.
Of course none of this is rocket science, but apparently we humans need constant reminders-myself included.
OK, who's got the stopwatch?
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