Easy ways to have more movement in your life

To me movement feels less results-oriented than exercise and, with its only goal being movement itself, we succeed simply by moving. What follows from here is a celebration of the simplicity, the accessibility, the joy, the warmth, the benefits and yes, the care that comes with moving. The human body is not suited to sitting for extended periods. Our skeletal structure means we're better adapted to extended periods of walking, squatting, standing and lying down. In fact, humans only began sitting on chairs regularly a little more than 200 years ago, when the industrial revolution made the mass production of furniture possible; before that, sitting in chairs was something you did at church or if you were nobility. It was even more recently - in the early-1900s, when conveyor belts were installed in factories and employees had to sit while working, and in the 1940s, when the office as we know it came into being - that sitting became a significant part of the working day for many people. Since then, as convenience and transport options and screen-based work has increased across much of the world, our time spent sitting has skyrocketed. Add to that the fact that many of our downtime activities involve being sedentary too - watching TV, playing video games, online shopping, reading, chatting with friends over a coffee, watching movies - and it's not particularly surprising to learn that, according to the Australian Heart Foundation, the average Australian adult spends more than nine hours per day sitting (far longer than we tend to sleep, which averages around seven hours a night).

In 2018 the Australian government released updated health advice, designed to help combat the status quo of sedentary behaviour. What was revolutionary about this advice was that, contrary to previous campaigns, it wasn't encouraging people to increase their level of exercise or to make significant dietary changes. The suggestion instead was that we would all benefit from one simple change: "Sit less, move more". While it's a problematic recommendation for the wheelchair users among us, this advice did represent a change of direction for public health guidelines, one that seemed to take into consideration our busy lifestyles and increased sedentary behaviour. It also appeared to acknowledge the many studies that show the best way to combat sedentary behaviour is to build more habitual movement (not necessarily exercise) into our days, in the same way we turn drinking enough water and brushing our teeth into everyday habits. (Many of these studies have found that while exercise offers many benefits, an hour of exercise every couple of days is not enough to undo the damage done if the remainder of our time is sedentary. Okay, but what about the real reason we don't move more? The one that says we don't have time. Here's where we get to reframe both the idea of moving more, and the idea of not having enough time.

For those days when you're stuck at your desk and are unable to get outside to take even a brief break, there's always deskercise (aka: exercise at your desk). While this might seem like the ultimate in modern-day multi-tasking ridiculousness, these super simple suggestions can be surprisingly helpful in maintaining flexibility, reducing tension and relieving stress - partly due to the brief mental reprieve mini movement breaks afford, and partly due to the health benefits of even the simplest of stretches:

You can practise several of them while you're cooking dinner, while you wait to pick the kids up from school, in the car, on the train or in the lift. You don't need to wait until you have a specific timeslot set aside for movement, you can simply add these and other small movements to your day and benefit from the many advantages of regular stretching such as finding an increase in flexibility and range of motion, increased blood flow, improved posture, reduction in back pain, stress relief, a decrease in tension headaches, a reduction in fatigue and improved productivity. This kind of simple, seemingly insignificant self-care can have ripple effects all the way through your daily life.

To untangle the knots of our deeply sedentary lifestyle (and the knots of our deeply tensioned shoulders), we need to learn to think creatively about how to bring more movement into our days. By making simple, if unconventional, changes to the way we structure our days and our downtime - not to mention our kitchens, workplaces and living spaces - we can significantly increase not only the range of movements we do, but also the amount of movement. Some of these suggestions might feel more achievable than others, but to get you thinking creatively about some of the possibilities in your own life, here are some of the shifts you can make to ensure that your days become more movement-rich:

Sit on the floor: Sitting at a low coffee table to eat or work gives you the opportunity to stretch your legs in different ways for longer periods of time, and it also means you need to get back up at some stage, a process that engages a wide variety of movements.

Stand to work: Use a few hefty books or boxes to create a standing desk (check online for some great guidelines on how best to align your workspace for back and neck health) and try working on your feet for part of the day. Combine this with calf stretches and heel raises to add some more movement. You could also try standing on public transport rather than sitting - by gently engaging your core muscles, try to remain stable and steady as the train, bus or tram accelerates and slows down.

Rearrange your cupboards: By putting the items you use most frequently in low cupboards, you'll find yourself squatting and bending many times during the day, using big muscles like your thighs and glutes more than you would if your pantry, cutlery and saucepans were at waist height.

Multitask your movement: When doing things such as folding laundry, cooking, reading, cleaning or gardening, incorporate some additional movement. Get down in a wide-legged squat when you're weeding the veggie garden or do some lunges when watering your pot plants. If you're reading or watching TV, try lying on your back and doing some spine twists.

Walk a little further: It's an oldie but a goodie - get off the bus one stop early and walk the extra distance home or take the slightly longer route to uni. Find a coffee shop an extra block or two away and walk there for your morning fix, or take some of your phone calls outside, walking or stretching as you talk. You could also try taking the stairs rather than the lift and parking further away from your destination. By setting a timer for every 30 minutes and taking a two-minute walk around the office or to the bathroom and back, you could potentially add more than half an hour of walking to your day, every day.

Meditation in motion: You can practise moving meditations while washing the dishes, mopping the floor, deadheading your roses, painting your front door, doing the grocery shopping, making the bed, mowing the lawn or any other everyday, so common-it's-invisible task.

The bottom line is we don't need to make huge sweeping changes to our daily rhythms in order to add more movement to our lives. Just look out for the opportunity to incorporate more and see how much of a difference it makes. Whether you have time to spare or not, finding small ways to include more movement in your day opens you up to so many more opportunities to get mindful, to feel supported, to connect to your body and to feel what it is to be truly alive. It might seem like simple stretching or a wander around the neighbourhood, but the reverberations from these acts of Small Care shouldn't be underestimated. Connection to mind, body, people, place and planet breeds understanding and empathy, responsibility and ownership. It ties us closer to each other and the places we share.