Let’s focus on how movement impacts us now and not what might happen in the future

There is lots of information out there on the potential long term impact of sitting too much each day in terms of potential health outcomes. While this is useful in educating us about living a healthy lifestyle I do think that it may be a little bit too abstract/too far away in the future as a way of motivating us to move more each day.

Science tells us that humans place greater importance/value on immediate outcomes than in the future due to certainty. The further away something is the more uncertain it is. So, in the context of sitting, if we are told that sitting for 10 hours a day will mean that in the future you might die sooner than you would if you moved more each day then this may not hold that much weight in terms of motivation. It may well make you feel guilty, however, which is another issue all together… guilt and shame are not sustainable motivators!

Rather than using some threat of something happening in the future as our reason to move more now, why not focus on the good stuff… how movement makes us feel when we do it. And if it doesn’t feel good when you do it, give me a call!