[Part I] Stop Sitting For Better Work/Life Wellness

Dr. Laura welcomes Dr. Stefan Zavalin, a Doctor of Physical Therapy and author of the book “Sit Less: Evolve Your Work and Life Without Compromising Your Health”, to the show. Dr. Zavalin’s passion for movement and health inspired him to investigate what he could do to counter our culture of sitting, which led to his writing a book on the subject.

Dr. Laura explores the facts about how much we generally sit in a day and learns the physical and mental health impacts of all that sedentary behavior from Stefan Zavalin. They discuss how the idea of simply sitting less naturally inspires healthy movement, how to practically structure movement breaks and periods of standing into your work day, and the four levels of beneficial exercise. The enthusiasm Dr. Zavalin exudes is both energizing and motivational, and his advice is directly applicable to all our lives.

“I feel that we're constantly hit over the head with this idea of you need to move more, you need to exercise more, do more of this, do more of this and more of this. And that felt like it would lead to a lot of burnout. … But we need to reduce the amount that we're sitting. And I thought that perhaps we need to shift that mindset. And the mindset that I approach it with is, okay, what if we reduce the bad thing, in this case, the sitting? So instead of thinking about moving more, we think about how we can sit less, and thus naturally we end up moving.” Dr. Stefan Zavalin

About Stefan Zavalin:

Stefan Zavalin is a Doctor of Physical Therapy with a passion for movement and health. After a few years working in the physical therapy world, Dr. Zavalin started a consulting business, Love to Move, to help office workers reduce sitting time. The vision: change the American work culture to help bring more movement to the everyday life of office workers to maintain their health, wellness, and ultimately, the longevity of their lives. In his free time, he likes to write songs on piano and guitar, critique a good cup of coffee, and play board games with his wife and friends. 

Resources:

Love to Move

“Sit Less: Evolve Your Work and Life Without Compromising Your Health” by Dr. Stefan Zavalin

Stefan Zavalin on LinkedIn

23 and ½ Hours: What is the Single Best Thing We Can Do For Our Health? on YouTube

Learn more about Dr. Laura on her website: https://drlaura.live

For more resources, look into Dr. Laura’s organizations: 

Work EvOHlution

Synthesis Psychology

Calgary Career Counselling

Canada Career Counselling

Dr. Laura is a partner of Humance | Culture and Performance.