To Stand or Not to Stand?

In the past month or so, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services posted a report that Americans should stand at leastonce per day. Below are several places to find the information:

1)www.theonion.com/articles/department-of-health-and-human-services-recommends

2)well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/the-hazards-of-the-couch/

3)The Vancouver Sun, West Coast News, Saturday 19 March 2011: “Sedentary workers benefit from standing”

This is incredibly sad. A great nation, which America once was, has declined to such a state of super-passivity that a government department needs to issue a suggestion of this nature.

For those of you that have benefited from some part of the MBF(R) education system will be acutely aware of the importance of movement for the human body. In fact, previously penned blog posts (21st Century Movement) speak to this.

More important, if you will recall, the NASA studies on Inactivity (Sandler and Vernikos, 1986) revealed the essential nature of activity for human beings for the maintenance of overall proper body function. All systems of the body benefit from movement and this is evidenced by the fact, as reported by NASA, that Central Nervous System (CNS) activity decreases as physical activity decreases. Furthermore, NASA reported that these results occurred in 24 to 72 hours, and in some subjects as little as eight hours of inactivity. As you may know, the CNS plays a role in almost all the systems of the body, thus any decrease in its activity would result in decreases in all body systems. (Perhaps science should begin to explore this in relation to newer ailments, such as Type II Diabetes, Alzheimers, and Parkinson’s Diseases…)

Certainly the need for movement is not new. In 1970, Dr. Ken Cooper introduced the western world to the importance of cardiovascular stimulation through using the major muscles of the body. However, the NASA studies (with ample sample sizes to satisfy validity) take human movement even further.

So, get out there and don’t just stand, move your body!

You know what they say, “if you don’t use it, you lose it!.

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