9 to 5 Wellness
Do you have the knowledge you need to help your organization get the best return on the time and capital invested in employee wellbeing? Are you a busy professional or C-suite leader looking to introduce wellbeing program at your work?
Discover the art and science of helping organizations grow their most important resource, their people. In this podcast we discuss how organizations can utilize the potential of wellbeing programs to deliver high return on investment (ROI) to employers. We talk about the radical impact that holistic employee wellbeing programs can have on overall quality of work and productivity. We will be sharing insights on investing in human capital. Such as:
š What has helped their organizations gain a competitive advantage?
š How they see the future of employee wellbeing?
š Misunderstandings that are out in the corporate market today
š Advice to other leaders to create a happier, healthier, and more productive workplace
Our guests are C-suite leaders, and wellness innovators across the value chain: HR managers, wellness champions, community wellbeing ambassadors, service vendors, and wellness consultants.
9 to 5 Wellness
Only 4% of Daily Activity can Change Your Health Profile
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In this episode, Iām sharing a valuable wellness tip based on a European Heart Journal study using UK Biobank data from over 100,000 people. The study found that just 4% of your daily activity can significantly reduce your chronic disease risk.
00:00 Welcome and Updates
01:00 Why Time Is the Barrier
02:25 The 4 Percent Study
04:09 What 4 Percent Means
05:31 Why It Works Physiology
06:41 Defining Vigorous Effort
08:34 Five Micro Habits
š š š If you liked this episode and would like to learn more about wellness training and workshops offered by 9 to 5 Wellness, email us at info@aeshathair.com. You can learn more about our programs at: https://toneandstrengthen.com/workshops-trainings/. š š š
My passion is helping organizations create a culture of wellness, and I do this by setting up health programs that prioritize the most important asset they've got ā their employees. Cheers to a healthier and happier journey ahead!
š š š You can learn more about ME- the host at https://www.aeshatahir.com
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Welcome to the Nine to Five Wellness Podcast, a show about corporate wellness solutions with innovators and forward-thinking leaders who are at the forefront of the workplace wellness movement. I'm your host, Aisha here.
Hello everyone. How are you doing? I am doing great. I came back from a trip to California earlier this week, and I'm trying to catch up on some of the projects that are more local for my work over here, and that includes my podcast recordings. So today I'm gonna share. Uh, wellness Tip with You, which is associated with a research study that I came across recently. This is your Wednesday Wellness podcast being released a day late.
So in this episode, I wanna talk about the 4% of your daily time that can change your health profile and your fitness level. In my conversations with fitness professionals and with my patients, one of the things that keeps coming up is how we expect so much from them. We talk a lot about the grind, spending at least 30 minutes in the gym or hitting that 10,000 step goal, or you're not gonna be able to live to 80 years or whatnot. Right. And in my experience working with busy professionals, most nine to fivers don't have that kind of time. They don't have the time to eat and sleep, let alone hit the gym. Most of my patients, they normally either skip lunch or they would eat a late lunch on their way back from work. So while they're driving, while they're driving. So how can we expect them to find 30 minutes to hit the gym?
So as soon as I came across this research study, I was like, oh my gosh, I have to talk about this on the podcast because this is exactly what we need to do in our daily lives. So that. It's actually not something extra on our plates. This research study suggests that if you can spend just 4% of your day at vigorous intensity, you can change your health outcomes dramatically. So the secret to dodging chronic diseases and improving your fitness , but about a very specific kind of time. This groundbreaking large scale study that I'm referring to is from the European Heart Journal and they use the Biobank data of over a hundred thousand people in the UK and what the researchers found was that performing just 4% of your daily activity at a vigorous intensity significantly reduces the risk of chronic diseases, including dementia. Diabetes and cardiovascular issues. This finding indicates that intensity acts as a multiplier where short bursts of high effort movement substantially improves long-term health outcomes. I've included the link in the show notes.
Isn't that awesome that just a few minutes a day can lower your risk for major chronic diseases. I'm talking about significant improvement. It leads to 63% lower risk of dementia, 60% lower risk of type two diabetes, 45% lower risk of chronic cardio respiratory disease. And 39% lower risk of immune related inflammatory diseases, like arthritis or psoriasis. So. In case you're wondering what am I talking about? 4% of your daily activity. What is that? So let's break it down into real world time. If you spend about two hours of, if you spend about two hours a day moving, and that includes the accidental exercise, like getting out of bed, walking to your car, doing laundry or grocery shopping, 4% of that total activity time is only five minutes a day. So while doing these activities. If your intensity is vigorous for five minutes a day, you can reduce your risk of chronic diseases and you can improve your health outcomes. You can improve your fitness. Let's talk in terms of a week over a full week. This typically amounts to about 15 to 20 minutes of high intensity effort. That's it. No, I didn't say 15 to 20 minutes a day. I said 15 to 20 minutes of high intensity effort a week. Five minutes daily or. 20 minutes a week. You're gonna see significant improvement in your health biomarkers.
Let's explore what's happening inside your body.
Because I'm a physiologist and I like to talk about physiologic adaptations. So the physiological adaptation is triggered when the body is briefly pushed beyond its usual capacity, forcing it to adjust to heightened oxygen demand and increased heart rate, while engaging underutilized muscle fibers. These short, high intensity bursts are critical for boosting cardiorespiratory fitness, commonly measured by VO O2 max, which serves as a premier marker for longevity and long-term health, and that's where the Five Minute does Wonders because even minor improvements in your VO two max, are linked to significant reductions in mortality risk .
At a cellular level, this intense short-term stress increases the efficiency of mitochondria, the cells energy producers. Furthermore, high intensity intervals like these improve insulin sensitivity of our cells, enabling the body to manage blood sugar more effectively. So what counts as vigorous? What are they talking about when it comes to high intensity or vigorous. You don't need fancy gadgets to tell you that you have crossed that threshold into vigorous or high intensity workload. Your body tells you this intuitively.
There is a specific internal signal that tells you when you've pushed too far, no technology required. You're breathing quickens, sentences start breaking apart, and a heavy realization sets in. Your body cannot keep up with this kind of work for too long, but in just a small dose. It can stay there. This threshold looks different for everyone. It could be a high speed cycle, or simply a brisk walk on an incline. It could be just taking stairs to your work, or it could be walking really fast, carrying your groceries. The key isn't what you're doing, but the sudden change in how your body feels doing it. It's simpler than you think. You don't need to run a marathon unless you want to. You just need to reach the talk test threshold. If you are moving fast enough that you can't easily hold a conversation if you're huffing and puffing a little bit, for example, like, oh yes, no, I cannot do this. How about this? If you sound like that, you are there. It looks like running up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, it might look like power walking the last block to your office. So it's those simple movements that you're already doing. If you can just increase the intensity of those, that's what will count towards that five minute a day .
As a deskbound professional myself, I know your time is limited, but building a health savings account doesn't require overhauling your routine. It requires a 4% intentional effort to shift from sedentary to strong.
Here are the five micro habits that can easily help you change the character of your day. First, inject speed into your strolls. You don't need a new workout plan. Simply pick one segment of your daily walk and increase the pace. Find that spot where you're breathing. Noticeably shifts from comfortable to working. Take stairs with purpose.
Transform everyday movement into strengthening by tackling stairs purposefully rather than just comfortably. Let it be brief, intentional challenge for your muscles. Third, implement micro intervals within your existing steady movement, like a walk or jog. Just sprinkle in 30 to 60 seconds of high intensity effort. Return to your baseline, and you can repeat this two or three times.
Let's talk about the load that you already carry daily. Stop dividing your groceries or bags instead, carry the weight together. Creating a concentrated strengthening load rather than spreading the effort. Lastly, remember to capitalize on natural urgency. Use your commute, walking to a meeting, or moving between tasks as built in high intensity opportunities. No extra time added, just maximum efficiency. Individually, these choices seem so small, but when applied consistently, they shift your posture and physical conditioning in a way that comfortable sedentary habits won't.
The takeaway here is a massive win for all the busy nine to fivers or busy parents. You don't need to find an extra hour. You just need to find five minutes within the movement you're already doing and kick it into high gear. Your brain, your heart and your future self will. Thank you. Now go get those five minutes in today. Talk to you soon.
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