There is fitness, and then there is everything else you do... But is that really the case? Shouldn't they be intertwined? It is not like your heart stops when you are not actively pushing it to work harder.
The problem is that many of us make a split between our workouts and the rest of what we do. The workouts provide an excuse to be more lazy or use less critical judgment when we are not working our bodies. I can understand resting for a bit, but I also understand that the body will best adapt if it thinks that it has to for survival. This doesn't mean to be on edge all of the time, but it could mean to be in a potential state of energy.
This could mean:
1) Sitting up straight-- actively sitting in case you had to get up at any moment.
2) Stretching throughout the day-- You don't need yoga, just do some myofascial stretching throughout the day. Make it a habit. Find locations at home, work, or wherever that can help with leverage. This beats doing it in a once a week yoga class, because you are doing it all day every day.
3) Walk for meaningless errands. Make up errands, or plan a few out throughout the day. Get up from your office chair and get some water, make a copy of something, or just check on something. Break up the day with these things (we mostly already do). For office workers, this is like the necessary "screen break" for health reasons. It works!
4) Choosing harder over convenient. Go the extra mile, do more work, make yourself get up to change things even if a remote or convenience device can do so. I know it is an annoying habit to build, but it keeps you willing to move. If we lose will, then we lose our way.
5) Sleep is for resting. It lasts long enough. It takes 1/3rd of our life. If our life is shortened by unhealthy habits, then we have less time to enjoy. You may enjoy sleep, but try to enjoy it within a strict amount of time. Work your body so that you want to sleep, and get up because you want to live. Keep this at a healthy minimum.
I know this is all common sense-- it should be. We have smartwatches and step trackers available to see how much we move throughout the day. These suggestions (aside from sleep) will make the numbers add up (even a sitting up adjustment can help).
Our bodies are in constant motion internally. There is no "off", so although we rest, we are still being active. This blog just suggests that we rest actively between mini-actions. We need to keep moving for our health.
Massage/ Adjustments
Although it is pricey (unless you can teach a friend), getting a massage or an adjustment (get this done professionally) is good for those over-extension stretches our bodies need every now and then. Sometimes it hurts, but then again, so does working out if it is done effectively. I feel as if massage is a reset for the body-- it removes wastes from muscle that working out or personal stretching can't do. The benefits of human touch also cannot be understated. Of course, this is expensive unless you can work something out (and you should).
Keep moving up the Highlands.
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