How to Be a Healthy Couch Potato

Research indicates that 60 to 85 percent of people worldwide lead sedentary lifestyles. Webster's dictionary defines a couch potato as "a lazy and inactive person; especially one who spends a great deal of time watching television." While those habits won't be changed overnight, these small steps can help stave off more serious health risks.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. 

   Incorporate exercises into your TV viewing. Leg lifts, stretches and other exercises help stimulate your muscles and prevent them from atrophying. You can lie down all you want when you're dead.

2. 

   Keep the munchies to a minimum. A bag of chips sitting in your lap or a well-stocked mini-fridge next to or (God forbid) in your favorite recliner are recipes for disaster. Control the portions by only taking a handful at a time and leaving the rest in the kitchen. You can still probably polish off that bag before you've finished yet another rerun of "Seinfeld," but at least you'll have the movement from the couch to the kitchen to keep the blood flowing.

3. 

   Add more fruits and veggies (without the high-fat dip) into your snack time. You'll eat less than you would of the sodium-laden snacks, plus you'll get the benefits of all those vitamins and minerals. (Though to be fair, a heaping plate of kiwi for the big game probably won't go over too well with your buddies.)

Resources

• Couch Potato Exercises from the American Physical Therapy Organization