Getting the message across

Waiting for the tube, an advert looms over me. A skull on a chair. Fat black lines and sharp angles. Inactivity, it says, is death. The dream I've been so fervently chasing, of collapsing onto sofas, slumping against pillows, sinking into bubble baths, is slowly killing me.

I’m being dramatic. But here’s my predicament.

Living in a fast-paced city means you’re constantly cloaked in chaos and frenzy. If I’m not rushing to get ready, racing towards the office or speeding to meet a friend, I’m sprinting down a swimming pool lane, bashing out emails or powering through a recipe. And all the while I'm chasing the dream of stillness, where the frenetic pace of life lets up for just a moment, and reverberating in my mind is that old WH Davies poem: “What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?”

And then I see a skull on a chair.

“Give me a BREAK!” I want to scream. I’m tired. Physically, mentally. I’m exhausted. And now I’ve discovered that the rest I so desperately crave is actually the chop of the guillotine, cutting life short.

^ image via medicalbillingandcoding.org
I’m an office worker, which means I spend on average 7 or 8 hours a day sitting at a desk. Apparently this means:

• I’m 40% more likely to die within 15 years
• Enzymes that help break down fat are 90% less effective
• Calorie burning is reduced to one per minute
• Good cholesterol drops by 20% while I’m sitting
• I have twice the risk of cardiovascular disease

It’s a pretty depressing picture. But what upsets me more is this incessant scaremongering towards working professionals (and parents), who after a long day of working, exercising, commuting and doing all manner of jobs, simply want a well-earned rest, without the fear of guilt, lectures or finger-pointing.

This is not to say I don’t agree that sitting is bad for me. I’m fully aware, and I can’t do much about my 9-5 office job, but maybe, just maybe, I’d respond a little bit better to a different mode of advertising. Like this: the Movement Is Happiness campaign with Coca Cola.

Now that’s something I can relate to. The message is essentially the same, but elicits more of an ‘ah!’ rather than an ‘ARGHH!!” response in my mind. It’s pretty simple: moving people are happy people. Happy people are healthy people. That makes me want to move more. Job done.

So I choose to narrow my eyes, purse my lips and cast a sideways glance at the skull on the chair. And when I get home I may just go for a bike ride. Well done Coke.

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