Fidget Gidget

If you are like me and can’t seem to sit still without moving your hands or legs, then today’s tip will be just right for you.

9. Fidget more.  Fidget is defined as the following:

1. To behave or move nervously or restlessly.

2. To play or fuss; fiddle

Studies show that fidgety types burn significantly more calories than their stationary peers. Researchers at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, recruited a group of healthy but sedentary and overweight adult men and women and equipped them with a device that would record all of the steps they took over the course of a day, along with most of their other movements. What the researchers found was that the men and women averaged about five hours of movement of any kind during a typical day, and most of it was extremely light activity.

Only very rarely did any of the volunteers speed up enough to bump their incidental activity level into the moderate range. Current fitness guidelines advise us to do at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days of the week.  Not a single one of the volunteers met those guidelines, but those who moved the most did have significantly higher cardio-respiratory fitness than those who moved the least.  

Long story short--this study found some benefits from fidgeting and unplanned movement. Moreover, in a 2008 study, researchers tracked the daily movements of lean and obese women and found that the leaner group more frequently fidgeted, stood up and walked around.

Can’t meet the daily guidelines either? Then go ahead and fidget!

http://www.michaelhomnick.com/2011/05/15/fruitful-fidgeting/

Exercise report: Hit the weights and treadmill at the gym today for about 45 minutes. I plan on Sweatin’ again after lunch.  My goal is you do at least 2 hours of planned physical activity a day and hopefully accumulate some incidental activity as well J We shall see how that goes.