Is a sedentary lifestyle killing you? Are you gaining weight, developing neck pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, back problems, or other health issues that are interfering with your ability to achieve your goals or live life to the fullest?

Sedentary Lifestyle Syndrome (SLS) ™ is one of the fastest growing health care crises of our time. In this digital age of techno-overload, where most of our waking hours are spent sitting, or otherwise “connected” to some device, we are quickly realizing the negative effects. If you can answer yes to the following questions, you may be suffering from SLS.

· Do you sit for at least 6-8 hours per day without adequate breaks?

· Have you gained significant weight from lack of exercise and poor nutrition?

· Do you suffer from headaches, fatigue, listlessness, and lack of motivation?

· Have you been diagnosed with one or more health issues aggravated by prolonged sitting and lack of movement? (i.e.: Obesity, depression, heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome)

Overcome Your Sedentary Lifestyle is the practical guide you need. Author and Holistic Health Care professional, PJ Sharon, includes tips to keep you healthy—even if sitting is in your job description. Ms. Sharon offers easy to implement solutions for proper work station set-up, exercises for injury prevention and treatment, and a practical plan for self-care success—whether you’re perched on the couch, or on the way to fulfilling your dreams.

Isn’t it time for you to stand up for your life?

Buy on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017JL1E20

Excerpt

Finding Time is Making Time

Any amount of increased activity will go a long way toward overcoming your sedentary lifestyle and fighting the battle of the bulge, but to see real results, consistency and intensity are key.

You don’t have to love exercise. You just have to hate being out of shape more than you hate getting into shape.

By “vigorous” exercise, as I mentioned earlier, I mean sweating, getting your heart rate up, and making your muscles work for 30 minutes a day five days per week. Mix it up. It can be a combination of aerobic activity, light strength training, or plyometric exercise. Also don’t discount the benefits of activity based workouts like kayaking, biking, hiking, tennis, or taking a dance class. Whatever gets you out of your head and into your body for at least a half hour every day.

Exercise is essential to a balanced, healthy life. There is no way around it.

Please consult a physician before beginning an exercise routine and:

START SLOW.

If you need gentler, lower impact activities; swimming, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, gentle yoga, or Pilates might help to get you fit enough for more strenuous pursuits. Just don’t give in to the idea of all or nothing. Do something…anything…but learn to do it correctly and commit to doing it consistently.

Daily exercise is something you must do for the rest of your life, so find activities you enjoy and become proficient with them. There is no race to the finish line here, but you must make a commitment to yourself to make exercise a priority. Developing a routine takes time, but it’s clearly one of the most impactful choices you can make for optimal physical and mental well-being and is a cornerstone to weight management.

For example, I work my day job as a massage therapist and personal trainer three to four days per week. It sounds like I’d get a lot of exercise, but in reality, giving massages is not terribly demanding for me. My body is conditioned and used to performing this activity so I don’t include it as exercise. The same with training. I might demonstrate an activity now and then, but mostly I’m instructing, and definitely not working up a sweat. That means that on the days I work from home (my sedentary writing life takes up an additional thirty to forty hours a week or more), I follow a routine.

On those days at home I get up around 7:00 a.m. (I’m a night owl so I don’t get to bed until 11:30 or midnight, but I still try for at least seven hours of sleep), don my workout duds, fill my water bottle, and break my nighttime fast. I’ll have a piece of fruit or a few bites of protein (a couple spoons full of low fat cottage cheese or yogurt works well to tide me over until breakfast.) Then I sit down to go through my emails, take care of any promotional responsibilities, and check in with my social media sites. This can take anywhere from 1-2 hours, depending on how much I need to attend to. I set my internal timer to remind me to do some shoulder shrugs and wrist and neck stretches at the half hour marks. If you need to set a timer, do it.

On the other hand, if you’re an early morning writer, and most creative first thing, this two hours (even with breaks every half hour) can get you that 1000 words a day word count quota most writers strive for. I’m not one of those who can jump out of bed and hit the treadmill or force my creative brain to kick into high gear. I’m also not a coffee drinker, but if you are, now’s the time to enjoy your wakeup call. By 9:00, whether I’m done or not, I get up and prepare to exercise.

I’m already dressed, my blood sugar is level, and I’ve got my first water bottle several ounces down by now. I remind myself adamantly that I can do anything for 30 minutes. I slap in a DVD, line up my weights, rollout my mat, and before I know it, its’ over, and I feel like I just climbed a mountain. Sweaty but invigorated, I feel as if I can tackle anything that comes my way for the rest of the day. If I want to mix it up, or need a quick 20 minute routine, I throw in a kickboxing video or do my own heavy bag routine.

As I said before, there are a ton of options when it comes to video workouts. It can be overwhelming to find what’s right for you, but be patient, do your homework, and then pick your poison.

My advice to those who are not “athletic” or who fear injury:

Consult a personal trainer if you’ve never lifted weights, or try any one of a thousand “beginner” DVDs on the market to get you going on a path to learning about your body and how it responds to movement of all kinds. Become proficient at various types of exercise so you have plenty of choices. Be willing to try something new. Pilates, yoga, and even Zumba are fun ways to explore just what that body of yours is capable of. Join a class, start slow, but commit to getting on board with exercise. Remember…NO EXCUSES! Everyone can do something.

Incidentally, you won’t die from exercise induced sweating. And as long as you listen to your body, focus on your breath, and employ your common sense, you’ll be fine. You’ll also be less likely to injure yourself and more likely to engage in exercise on a regular basis if you find the right exercise routine for you. The idea is to find a way to not equate exercise with drudgery.

By the same token, if you aren’t willing to work up a sweat, your results will be less pronounced and goals will take longer to achieve. Remember that weight management and health maintenance are a lifelong pursuit. You don’t have to do it all today, but every step you take toward improving the quality of your life through daily exercise and healthy eating will have a positive impact.

If you want to go the exercise video route—the least expensive and most convenient way to get started—here are some suggestions:

Choose the appropriate fitness level for you and pick something you’ll enjoy doing over and over again. Gaiam offers many choices for beginner workouts in Yoga and Pilates from great instructors like Rodney Yee and Sean Corn, experts in the field with years of experience.
Make sure your DVD of choice has an instructional segment and offers several shorter workouts so you have multiple options on any given day, depending on time limitations or how you’re feeling that day. You don’t want to give yourself any excuse to skip out on your workout.
Go on exercisevideosreviews.com to see what’s available and how one stacks up against others.
Create an exercise space for yourself. It doesn’t take much room, but you’ll want easy access to your weights, mat, and TV. Again, you want to make it easy to say YES to exercise.
Wear the proper clothing. You don’t have to have the latest in yoga fashion, but wear comfortable, stretchable, breathable clothing, good shoes, and ladies—a sports bra. Have water available and set yourself up for success by previewing your video to see if there are exercises you can’t do or if there is someone on stage offering a modified version. Don’t worry about keeping up. Do what you can.
The FIRM’s Super Body Sculpt series and all the “For Dummies” videos are excellent for teaching good form and setting you on the right track.
For more advanced exercisers who are generally in good health and looking for someone to kick their butts back into shape, try Jillian Michael’s 90 Day Body Revolution DVDs, P90X, or the Beach Body DVD series. These are all excellent for getting great results, but you have to be willing to work hard and stick with it to see the results you want.
Mix it up. Your body will adapt to a new routine quickly, so I recommend cross-training by varying your workout routines frequently. At the very least, switch up your routine every 6-8 weeks to keep your body guessing and adapting.

If you find that you can’t get a workout in at home because:

a) There are too many demands on your attention (kids, dogs, and spouses need to eat)

b) You have difficulty focusing on exercise when you feel you should be doing other things at home (like dishes, laundry, or lawn care).

c) You simply hate workout videos and prefer a gym setting.

By all means, join a gym.

It doesn’t have to be the fancy place with all the amenities that costs an arm and leg. There are plenty of small gyms and inexpensive alternatives as low as $10 per month. Some even have daycare available so you can bring the kids along. Once you commit, you need to put it on your schedule as a non-negotiable appointment. Whatever else you do that day is not as important as your health. Keep your scheduled exercise appointment. Create a routine you can’t live without. Your ability to be a happy, healthy, productive individual depends on it. I know it’s difficult.

Author contact/social media:

Award winning author of young adult books, including PIECES of LOVE, HEAVEN is for HEROES, ON THIN ICE, and Holt Medallion winner SAVAGE CINDERELLA, PJ Sharon loves writing for teens and teens at heart. Her latest work, HEALING WATERS, completes The Chronicles of Lily Carmichael, a YA sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian trilogy that RT Book Reviews calls “An action-packed read with a strong female lead.”

In her “real life” job as a Massage Therapist, Personal Trainer, and Yogi, PJ has been called “a powerhouse of positivity and productivity.” Her mantra is “find balance in all things, and live every day to the fullest.” A black belt in the art of Shaolin Kempo Karate, avid kayaker, and singer of Italian art songs, PJ has two grown sons and lives with her brilliant engineer of a husband in the Berkshire Hills of Western MA where she writes YA…because every teen deserves a hopefully ever after.