Best of: Tricks To Improve Your Mood
From May 2020
Anything is better than sitting around. Replace sedentary time with physical activity or even sleep. #pandemic #quarantine #sedentary #sleep #cleaning
https://www.instagram.com/p/DT6HO5kjrwe/
Howard G. Smith MD, AM on Instagram: "Best of: Tricks To Improve Your Mood From May 2020   As our house arrest continues, we all yearn for anything to improve our outlooks on life.  Researchers at Iowa State University studied 423 young adults 20 to 35 years of age surveying their moods and quantitating their physical activities over 10 days using wearable sensors.   Almost anything is better than sitting around.  Replacing prolonged sedentary time with light physical activity, moderate physical activity, or even sleep leads to mood elevation.  Stimulating your mind and body, even with subconscious activity and dreams, will reset and refresh your brain.    If you find yourself sitting around for more than 30 minutes, get up and get physical.  Light physical activities include walking around your home cleaning, washing dishes, or cooking.   https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(20)30136-7/pdf   #pandemic #quarantine #sedentary #sleep #cleaning"

0 likes, 0 comments - drhowardsmithreports on January 24, 2026: "Best of: Tricks To Improve Your Mood From May 2020   As our house arrest continues, we all yearn for anything to improve our outlooks on life.  Researchers at Iowa State University studied 423 young adults 20 to 35 years of age surveying their moods and quantitating their physical activities over 10 days using wearable sensors.   Almost anything is better than sitting around.  Replacing prolonged sedentary time with light physical activity, moderate physical activity, or even sleep leads to mood elevation.  Stimulating your mind and body, even with subconscious activity and dreams, will reset and refresh your brain.    If you find yourself sitting around for more than 30 minutes, get up and get physical.  Light physical activities include walking around your home cleaning, washing dishes, or cooking.   https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(20)30136-7/pdf   #pandemic #quarantine #sedentary #sleep #cleaning".

Instagram
Is cocoa the cure for too much sitting? New study says yes

Sitting has often been referred to as the new smoking thanks to its negative health benefits. For the first time ever, according to researchers in England, the flavanols in cocoa have been found to block its detrimental effects on blood vessels.

New Atlas

FLINTA* Hour @ Bossa Nova Civic Club - 21 Aug feat. SEDENTARY, 1ol1v1a, z33z

#SESH #SEDENTARY #1ol1v1a #z33z

https://sesh.sx/events/12233773

Today in #Employer Coverage: Americans are less #sedentary than a decade earlier, but there is pleny of room for improvement.

https://open.substack.com/pub/employercoverage/p/americans-are-less-sedentary-than

Getting up and #exercising once a day for an hour is great, but if you spend the rest of your day sitting, those benefits decrease. Being #sedentary for hours, whether it's during the long #commute or at a desk, can impact how well the #immunesystem works, leaving you prone to #inflammation. Increasing #physical activity during the day improves #circulation and enhances #immunefunction. Simple activities such as #standing during #phonecalls and taking a #walk and #lunch can make a difference.

Encouraging #kids to play with fire? Hear us out says party worried by #Netherlands’ increasingly #sedentary ways

10 y/o Jackie stood with a pan in open fire, chatting when her popcorn caught alight

With no sign of panic, her mother put flames out. Then they calmly cooked a ­2nd batch

“This is much more fun than other #playgrounds

“I’m a teacher at a #school where they encourage risk-taking play,” she said. “It’s learning about boundaries.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/feb/02/soft-spaces-out-stick-fighting-in-dutch-call-for-the-return-of-risky-play

#children #parks #play

Soft spaces out, stick-fighting in: Dutch call for the return of risky play

Encouraging kids to play with fire? Hear us out, says party worried by the Netherlands’ increasingly sedentary ways

The Guardian

For those who don’t know, the Mr. Universe pageant is all about body building. Those who have built their bodies to the maximum musculature are vying for the best bodies to be determined by the hopefully neutral judges.

They are judged on symmetry, proportion, muscle size and clarity.

Needless to say, I would not be eligible to win such a competition with my Dad bod. (Full disclosure: I am not a Dad.) But back in the day, when I did have a good body, I wouldn’t have been eligible for any of the awards of this pageant, either. Indeed I felt insecure about my body precisely because it never measured up to the standards of these body builders. By the very nature of this competition, you are meant to not feel good enough unless you are one of the top body builders in the world.

Indeed, people accomplished-with-their-bodies are meant to feel worse about their bodies because of these competitions. You know, gold medal swimmers, runners, decathletes, shotputters etc. feel lesser than body builders because of this competition.

I looked at some of the bios of the Mr. Universe winners and saw that only Eddy Ellwood was a Strong man competitor in Britain. In other words, all that body building doesn’t necessarily make a competent athlete. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that they are athletes. Decades ago I remember watching Battle of the Network Stars and thought that it was unfair that Lou Ferrigno (the Hulk) could compete. But then I saw him run his fastest. Those muscles in his legs may be strong but they weren’t fast.

So now I say don’t waste your time regretting that you don’t have a bodybuilder’s body. Your body may be attractive in its own right. I now think my high school body was good. I could see a six pack in my body back then. I thought I had a sunken in chest but I think it might have looked that way only because I had broad shoulders. Then I also felt insecure of the body I had in my twenties. I gained 15 pounds when I turned 20. The bottom two muscles in my six pack were now covered by a bit of fat so you could no longer see them. But my chest had gained muscle and now jutted out. But I was convinced that I weighed too little. I would be proud to have either body right now. And I will miss my present Dad bod when I am just a brain in a jar somewhere, clinging to a truly sedentary life.

I believe Mr. Universe is harming the world with the looks it presents as being excellent. That’s all it is, is looks. There is no talent contest. There are no questions that might make you think of these men as anything but muscle heads. These contests are worse for society than even beauty pageants. Still, if I had to move furniture and could only choose my movers based on looks, I think I would choose the last couple reigning Mr. Universes.

https://larryrusswurm.com/2024/11/02/the-mr-universe-pageant/

#BattleOfTheNetworkStars #bodyBuilding #brainInAJar #broadShoulders #DadBod #decathletes #EddyEllwood #feelInsecureBecauseOfThisPageant #feltLikeIWeighedTooLittle #goldMedalWinnersMadeInsecure #looks #LouFerrigno #MrUniverse #muscleClarity #muscleHeads #muscleSize #noQuestions #noTalentContest #proportion #runners #sedentary #shotputters #sixPack #StrongManCompetitor #sunkenInChest #swimmers #symmetry #theHulk

The Mr Universe Pageant | The Many Rants of Larry Russwurm

Scientists Reveal Optimal Number of Daily Steps to Offset Sitting Down

You've probably heard that adults should aim for 10,000 daily steps.

ScienceAlert

#Sedentary behavior found to increase #mortalityrisk

A rigorous new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has data showing that older women who sat for 11.7 hours or more per day increased their risk of death by 30 percent, regardless of whether they exercised vigorously.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-sedentary-behavior-mortality.html

Sedentary behavior found to increase mortality risk

Based on decades-long observations of centenarians, author Dan Buettner (Blue Zones) conjectures that people live longer when they get up and move around after sitting for twenty minutes.

Medical Xpress