< 5 minute walk & talk: The professor who makes her students jog during sociology class

MANOUSH ZOMORODI, HOST:

Hey, BODY ELECTRIC listener. It's Manoush, and it's time for another five-minute break from our screens, this time with a listener who's actually been incorporating movement breaks into her life for over 13 years. Her name is Jennifer Lundquist. She's a professor and associate dean at UMass Amherst. And she first got into movement breaks when she sprained her ankle in 2011.

At the time, she decided she was going to fully commit to doing physical therapy exercises for a couple minutes every hour. She really wanted to get better. But then she was surprised to find that she really liked taking these breaks, so she kept it up even after her ankle healed. Now she has a whole regimen and wardrobe to make sure that breaks are part of her work life, including when she's teaching class.

Hello, hello.

JENNIFER LUNDQUIST: Hi.

ZOMORODI: Hey, Jennifer. It's Manoush.

LUNDQUIST: Hi. It's so nice to hear your voice.

ZOMORODI: So nice to hear yours. Now, before we get started, are you moving?

LUNDQUIST: I actually am. I'm pacing.

ZOMORODI: Excellent. I'm at my desk because we are going to be talking about how we get movement into our workday. So let's talk about it as we move, Jennifer. What is your setup now? And what do you do every day?

LUNDQUIST: You know, I really mix it up. So I started using exercise apps. You know, it has yoga. It has cardio. It has weight lifting. So I have all kinds of weights and stuff in my office. And on the app, you have friends. You know, they're like, how are you working out every single day? And I would have to explain that, well, I'm just doing, like, you know, three minutes here and then three minutes there, and it never really felt legitimate.

And then I started reading, you know, all these studies that are saying that actually an hour of chunked exercise in the morning really does very little for your cardiovascular health, whereas if you're interrupting sitting, it's much better. And so then I started to feel pretty good about my pattern.

ZOMORODI: Now, how would you integrate this into your work day, though? Like, what if you were on a Zoom or in the middle of a class?

LUNDQUIST: Right. Well, so I'd integrate it into my class, not so much for myself because I'm pacing and walking the whole time, but my students are sitting.

ZOMORODI: Yeah.

LUNDQUIST: And to be honest, they would start to look a little bored and sleepy. So I would just literally have people either jog, or sometimes there'd be, like, two tracks, some people running and then some people just jogging, and then some people walking. And some people who chose not to do it at all and just sat there and laughed at everyone.

ZOMORODI: (Laughter).

LUNDQUIST: But I would do that maybe once an hour.

ZOMORODI: Funny - 'cause we have heard from other teachers. Some say this is way too disruptive. Other people say, I don't care if it's disruptive. I see my students engaging with the material and, as you pointed out, not feeling sleepy. So to me, the disruption is a win.

LUNDQUIST: Oh, yes. I mean, you know, pedagogically, we know that not just students, all people can really only pay close attention to something for, you know, 20 minutes to 30 minutes or so. And so usually, pedagogically, what you're doing is shifting from, you know, small-group interaction to some lecture to maybe some discussion. And so I see integrating movement as just one more format of that.

ZOMORODI: I heard recently somebody say that the best exercise hack is to just dress for being able to move all day long. I'm just curious.

LUNDQUIST: Yeah.

ZOMORODI: What - as a professional person who's in the office every day, what do you wear?

LUNDQUIST: Well, it's pretty casual. And when I'm in my office, I'm actually barefoot all the time, and I'm usually wearing, like, comfortable pants and a shirt or something. But for the most part, I don't - it's not like I'm getting super sweaty. So it's pretty easy to integrate in.

ZOMORODI: So if someone is like, I think I want to take it up a notch; I want to do what Jennifer's doing - what's your one suggestion?

LUNDQUIST: Let's see. So I guess maybe my advice, maybe even for my own self, would be to not be embarrassed of taking movement breaks publicly. Like, before I started doing this, I was always working at cafes. And once I started integrating movement breaks in, I just didn't like working at, you know, the local cafe because I couldn't get up and, you know, do jumping jacks or pushups. It would be awkward. But, you know, as we're talking, I'm thinking, wow, maybe if I just did it unapologetically, maybe others would find it interesting.

ZOMORODI: I dare you, Jennifer...

LUNDQUIST: (Laughter).

ZOMORODI: ...The next time you go to a coffee shop to get up and just do some squats and see what happens. My kids get so embarrassed 'cause I'll do that at the airport. And they'll be like, oh, my God, Mom, sit down.

LUNDQUIST: Yes, I have teenagers. But, you know, one's about to graduate, so I don't have to fear their embarrassment for too much longer.

ZOMORODI: You can be as weird as you want.

(LAUGHTER)

ZOMORODI: I love it. Thank you so much, Jennifer. This was so fun.

LUNDQUIST: Thanks so much.

ZOMORODI: Keep moving. Bye.

LUNDQUIST: You too. Bye.

ZOMORODI: All right. Are you getting up off your screen more, struggling to do so? Give us an update. Email us at bodyelectric@npr.org or talk to me on Instagram. I'm @manoushz. And by the way, you can see Jennifer's workout setup at her office and learn so much more in our newsletter. You can get it at npr.org/bodyelectric. Next week, we'll be back with a deep dive into how our screens are affecting our breath. You don't want to miss it. Thanks for being here. I'll see you then.

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