There are more benefits of being active – beyond the Calories!

The research is very clear that being active, really using your muscles throughout the day, has all sorts of benefits beyond burning calories (although burning calories is indeed a good thing).

Taking a walk, for example, indoors or outside, on a treadmill or not, has been shown to help our brains work more effectively and also to boost creativity, for example, while we’re walking and for a while afterwards—so creating opportunities to walk, with exercise equipment or paths through your home or yard is well worth the effort.

Another way that you can use your muscles throughout the day if you don’t happen to spend your days as a professional speed skating or doing something else that keeps you on the go for hour after hour is to work at a sit-stand desk.  Changing from standing to sitting and sitting to standing can help you more comfortable as you use different sets of muscles for each. There is some evidence that doing so is good for work that requires concentration/focus and also that just having the choice of when to stand and when to sit can do all sorts of desirable things to the performance of your brain.