Are you sitting down?

My husband, who works from home most of the time, has a minor hobby of always ‘improving’ his work environment. It all started when I pointed out to him some years ago that his office ergonomics could be contributing to his neck pain. He was sitting all day in a chair that was too low at a desk that had a computer in the far left corner requiring him to turn his head to the left and reach his right arm  across his body to work the mouse of the computer.

Determined to make his office environment more healthy and ‘zen’, he has gone through several different desk chairs, brought in an ergonomics consultant, a feng shui consultant, added a living plant, tried a desk water fountain, hung up inspirational photographs and a mini vision board, and at the end of the workday always left his desk neat and clean. I was pretty impressed.

With the new addition to our home finally complete he took his office improvement project to the next level with the purchase of a high low desk. I have to say that this has been the most impactful improvement to date. Not only does he have less neck pain, but he feels more energized and focused. He now stands most of the time he is working.

If you’re like most people you spend most of your day sitting. You sit to drive to work, you sit at work, you sit to eat your meals (and so you should!), you sit to review homework and perhaps watch TV. In fact, I bet you are sitting and reading this post right now – note your posture – are you hunched over, are you looking down at your computer screen? When was the last time you stood up and moved around? 

Did you know that you can get more benefits from just sitting less than exercising more? Here is what all the sitting is doing to our health… 

Sitting for long periods of time can lead to the following:

Brain fog – when you’re moving blood is pumping and mood boosting chemicals are releasing…when you are sitting your body slows and blood circulation decreases.

Strained neck – from craning your neck toward a keyboard or holding a phone while tilting your head.

Heart Disease – when you sit your muscles burn less fat causing fatty acids to clog the heart. Sitting also decreases the activity of an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase (LPL), which helps burn fat.

Muscle degeneration – too much sedentary time decreases bone mineral density without increasing bone formation, which raises the risk of fracture.

Disk damage – sitting puts you at a greater risk of herniated lumbar disks.

Increased blood pressure – Excess sitting increases blood pressure and decreases the diameter of arteries.

These are just a few of the negative affects sitting has on your body. But what if you exercise regularly? There is evidence that even if you exercise moderately – 30 minutes a day 5x a week that you are still at risk for many of these ailments.

So what can you do to help?

Sit on something wobbly like an exercise ball or a backless stool to force your core muscles to work. Sit up straight and keep your feet flat on the floor in front of you.

Stretch your hip flexors and do the yoga poses “cat” and “cow” (see here http://www.lifehack.org/274685/3-exercises-you-need-counteract-sitting-all-day)

Do you watch TV at night? Instead of skipping commercials try walking around, doing stretches or push-ups and sit-ups.

At your work station alternate between sitting and standing. If you can invest in a high low desk my husband recommends this brand … but there are many others out there such as these  and these.

I hope this has inspired you to spend more time standing up, even though it’s deeply embedded in our culture to ‘sit down and get to work’.

The latest news is my husband wants to add the treadmill option to his desk! I don’t know about that! I don’t want to come into this office and find him smashed into the back wall because he forgot to move his feet while the treadmill was running. I can see a workman’s comp claim coming on that one.

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