A hand-drawn sketchnote titled 'Movement Breaks' summarizing a TED Talk by Manoush Zomorodi. At the center, a stick figure sits hunched at a desk staring at a computer screen, with labels pointing out the problems: kinked arteries, bad blood flow, shallow breathing, and interoception interrupted. Below the figure is the question 'Where did all my energy go?' Surrounding the central image are sketched solutions: a figure marching in place, a person going for a stroll with a sun overhead and the note 'bonus points if outside,' and a figure dancing labeled 'dance party.' In the upper portion, a figure leaps upward with a list of benefits — mood, energy, focus, productivity — alongside a heart icon and the words 'overall health.' A clock in the lower right shows the recommended cadence: 5 minutes every 30 minutes. The bottom credits the talk to Manoush Zomorodi with 'Sketch by Doug Neill.' The Verbal to Visual website is noted in the upper right corner.

Sitting All Day Is Killing You: Visual Notes of Manoush Zomorodi’s TED Talk

Here’s what the typical workday looks like for most of us, most of the time. As Manoush Zomorodi tells us in her TED Talk, we spend our days typing, swiping, scrolling, and sitting. Then at the end of the day we ask ourselves, “Where did all my energy go?”

Well, all that time sitting and looking at a screen doesn’t do our bodies good. Sitting causes kinked arteries, resulting in bad blood flow. Our posture leads to shallow breathing. And staring at a screen interrupts our introspection — our ability to pay attention to what’s going on inside our body and respond to what it needs.

The good news is there’s a simple solution: movement breaks. Stand up, get away from the screen, and move your body, ideally five minutes every 30 minutes. That is indeed a lot of breaks, but even if it ends up being five minutes every hour, or even every two hours, you’ll still see some benefits.

How might you take those breaks?

You could go for a stroll. Maybe just around the office, but you get bonus points if you go outside because of the benefits that come from fresh air and exposure to nature. If you need to stay where you are, you could simply march in place, even during a Zoom call, even while watching YouTube videos. You could have a mini dance party. Put on a few good songs and move your body.

A hand-drawn sketchnote titled 'Movement Breaks' summarizing a TED Talk by Manoush Zomorodi. At the center, a stick figure sits hunched at a desk staring at a computer screen, with labels pointing out the problems: kinked arteries, bad blood flow, shallow breathing, and interoception interrupted. Below the figure is the question 'Where did all my energy go?' Surrounding the central image are sketched solutions: a figure marching in place, a person going for a stroll with a sun overhead and the note 'bonus points if outside,' and a figure dancing labeled 'dance party.' In the upper portion, a figure leaps upward with a list of benefits — mood, energy, focus, productivity — alongside a heart icon and the words 'overall health.' A clock in the lower right shows the recommended cadence: 5 minutes every 30 minutes. The bottom credits the talk to Manoush Zomorodi with 'Sketch by Doug Neill.' The Verbal to Visual website is noted in the upper right corner.

Why it’s worth it

When you take those movement breaks you will see improvements in your mood, your energy, your focus, and even your productivity. Those five minutes spent moving will make the next 30 minutes of work that much better, not to mention the benefits to your overall health like lowering your cholesterol.

These ideas come from a TEDx talk by Zomorodi titled Sitting All Day is Killing You: Here’s What to Do About It. For more of the details, go watch the talk yourself.

And for your next movement break? Why not stand up, go over to the whiteboard or grab some poster paper, and sketch out whatever you’re thinking about or working on.

For more support developing your visual thinking skills, come join us inside of Verbal to Visual for a library of complete-at-your-own-pace courses plus weekly live workshops.

Cheers,

-Doug