Standing for three hours a day has ‘the same health benefits as 10 marathons a year’

 

If you find it tricky to find the time – or the motivation – to go to the gym, here’s some good news.

Simply standing up for three hours a day is as good for you as running ten marathons a year, an expert has claimed.
Dr Mike Loosemore, Lead Consultant in Exercise Medicine at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health, said that official guidelines on exercise are impractical and can seem an impossible task for many people.

But, he insisted, even small amounts of exercise can have health benefits.

The Government advises we spend half an hour a day, five days a week doing moderate exercise.
But Dr Loosemore said barely 7 per cent of men and 4 per cent of women meet that advice.
More than a quarter of adults fail to exercise for just half an hour a week, making Britain one of the least active countries in the world.

Speaking on BBC 4’s Today programme, he said: ‘The message I want to try to get out there is that small amounts of physical activity, although not reaching the government guidelines, are still doing you a lot of good – even just standing up is good for you.

‘I’m standing up now, I’m using all the small muscles in my legs and the rest of me, I’m keeping myself upright.
‘If I stood up like this and worked standing up, which I do, three hours a day, five days a week, that would be the equivalent of running ten marathons a year.’

Dr Loosemore, who was also Lead Sport Medic for the GB boxing team at the London 2012 Olympics, added that people would be ‘entirely wrong’ to think that small changes, such as standing up more, are pointless.