I started working in an
office 5 years ago, and during the past two years I have started to suffer a
few consequences of bad habits that can were formed while sitting at a desk for
8 hours a day.
The reality is that a
large amount of people work office jobs these days, and a lot of them do not
correlate their type of work with their health condition. It is hard to change
the way society works and avoid working office jobs altogether, as we often
don't have that choice. However, we do have the choice of making a few
adjustment at work that will allow us to prevent illnesses and health issues
caused by sitting at your job for long hours each day.
In my case, I exercise
very regularity, and always have made a decent effort to eat healthy. However
the past two years a few health issues have started to manifest, and it took
some digging to find out the root causes. I started to develop a lot of
gastrointestinal problems, and inability to breathe properly. I had to make a
conscious effort to intake enough oxygen, as I often felt as if I was choking.
I also noticed that I
started to hunch over when I walked and even after doing yoga I had a hard time
standing straight without effort. My spine started to feel weak, and I
experienced a lot of back pain.
When I visited a
chiropractor, I discovered that a bad posture when sitting at my desk, plus not
breathing properly had compressed some vertebrae in my spine, and had shifted
my stomach in a way that impeded proper emptying into the small intestine. A
series of chiropractic sessions and dietary adjustment made a lot of
improvement, and now I make a conscious effort to breathe deeply throughout the
day and to have a correct posture while sitting at my desk, so that the problem
does not come back.
A very well researched
article by Dr. Mercola discusses part of the controversy about the negative
effects of sitting for prolonged hours and whether or not standing at your desk
is better that sitting. The article also mentions several studies that point at
a variety of negative health effects that can result from sitting more than 7
hours a day.
I won't discuss the
details of those studies, but I will share with you the most important piece of
information.
The bottom line as the
article suggests is that the overall lack of movement might be the most
detrimental issue for health, whether it is from standing or sitting; that
said, it is important to mention that when you stand at your desk you are
likely to get a lot more movement that when sitting, and I can attest to that
because I tried standing at my desk for a while, and I did naturally move a lot
more; I took some steps to reach things, I moved from leg to leg, and I changed
my posture several times while standing, which increases the amount of overall
movement in a day. I also felt more alert and less tired during the day.
Standing is also a weight bearing posture which is beneficial for musculature
and bone density.
Nevertheless, while
standing might have less disadvantages that sitting, I agree with Dr. James
Levine author of the book Get Up!: Why Your Chair Is Killing You and What You
Can Do About It in that the emphasis should be on increasing movement of the
body throughout the day rather than on simply switching from sitting to
standing.
That said, if you
decide to try standing at your desk I strongly recommend that you position your
screen, and keyboard at the right level to avoid developing issues, as a bad
standing posture can be as harming as a sitting posture.
As someone who works a
full time office job, but who is also committed to improve my health and
prevent future health issues, for the past year I have tried several strategies
in order to reduce sitting time, and more importantly to increase the amount of
movement of my body on any given day at the office, which has also helped me in
my weight loss efforts.
Today I want to share
with you some of the strategies I have implemented, and that have made a big
difference in improving and relieving neck and back pain, indigestion, muscle
soreness, and general energy levels.
1. Change positions
several times throughout the day. For this, I Set a timer on my phone or
computer to go off every 25 minutes, because it is very easy to get carried
away with work, and before you know it 2 hours have gone by.
Dr. Mercola recommends
to not sit for more than 20 minutes at a time. This might be a big compromise
for a lot of people, depending on where you work. If you are lucky and have
your own private office like me, this will be feasible if you are determined. I
change positions every 25 minutes most of the time, and move for 2 minutes
every time.
If you share office
space or have a time of job where it is impossible to stand every 20 minutes,
don't worry! The point is to increase movement in general, so you will still
benefit from changing positions in longer intervals.
How changing positions
looks like? When your alarm goes off, stand up, walk around your own office,
walk to the printer, walk to the water dispenser, walk around the hallway, do
stretches, squats, walk in place, and roll your wrists, your ankles, do some
standing yoga poses, anything that moves your body will benefit you.
If you are not able to
stand up and move around, you can practice extending your legs while seated, do
the rolling of the wrists, ankles, stretch your neck, etc.
You can also try
sitting on an exercise ball and switch between that and your regular chair,
like I do.
Trust me, I understand
this is challenging in today's world, but if you are serious about your health
and understand that you are your first priority, you will make it happen!
2. Take deep breaths
throughout the day. Breathe into your diaphragm, expand your chest, and ribcage
to ensure adequate oxygen intake. This can also help you improve your posture,
because it is hard to breathe deeply when you are slouching at your chair.
Breathing deeply will also force you to keep your back straight.
3. Take a walk during
your lunch break and/or coffee breaks. Your breaks are the best opportunity to
get more movement in. Make a conscious effort to go out for a walk instead of
staying in your office to read news or sitting in the lunch room. This is also
extremely beneficial to give your brain a break, sometimes we come back with a
much clearer mind and new ideas on how to solve problems.
Even if you walk only
20 minutes a day every day you work, and you work about 20 days a week like
most people, you will put in 400 minutes of walking every month! That is 6.6
hours! That your body will thank you for.
Don't underestimate the
power of walking. It is a great weight-bearing exercise that the body was built
to do!
4. Mindful Eating
Usually, People who work
office jobs, myself included, have much more opportunities to eat throughout
the day, than say, constructions workers, and yet us office workers move a lot
less and therefore require less energy. You see the problem?
Food is comforting when
we are stressed out, and even entertaining when we are bored, but eating under
those circumstances can potentially lead us towards making bad eating choices
or eating more than needed.
We must be aware of our
emotional state before reaching for a snack. It takes awareness of your body to
know how you feel and understanding your choices. However, as a rule of thumb
it is better not to eat when you are under stress. Take a few minutes to calm
down and ask your body: what will really nourish me right now? Sometimes a few
deep breaths or a walk are much more relieving in the long term than food.
Recognizing when we are
bored is important to avoid eating out of boredom. This happened to me a lot,
when work started to be a bit daunting, I used to go to the nearest bakery as a
way of having some distraction, and I would buy a pastry even though I wasn't
really craving it. Eventually, I noticed some weight gain after a few trips to
the bakery!
Now I recognize when I
am bored, or tired and I pay attention to my choices. I try to read an article
instead or just go for the walk, pass by the bakery but don't stop by. Usually
after a walk I will have a better idea whether I am hungry or not.
Bottom line: Eat when
you are hungry, not when you are bored, stressed or tired.
5. Proper Posture.
Whether you sit or stand at your desk, ensuring that you have the correct
posture will prevent a lot of pain and discomfort. There are several resources
on the internet that you can use as a guide.
Some suggestions to
always keep in mind are: Avoid slouching, sitting cross legged, cradling the
phone, and shrugging your shoulders.
Remember that when it
comes to avoiding health problems from working at a desk, the key is to improve
posture, and increase movement throughout the day.
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people devoted to improving their health and wellbeing through simple lifestyle
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direction.
People sitting a lot
will definitely have an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and early
death. Moreover, sitting for a very long time won't burn many calories. In
fact, lots of studies have linked it to obesity and weight gain. Today, this is
the major problem of office workers since they often sit throughout the day.
Good thing there are standing desks these days.
Standing Desks - What
Are They?
Standing desks, also
known as stand-up desks are desks which allow a person to stand up comfortably
while working on his or her computer. Lots of modern versions are now
adjustable so you can easily change the height of the desk and alternate
between standing and sitting.
Others may call these
height-adjustable desks. Though there are still few studies showing the
benefits of this office item, many health pros believed that it can partly
negate the harmful effects of sitting too often.
Benefits Of A Standing
Desk
Reduced back pain -
More office workers complain of back pain. Those who made use of standing desks
claimed that there was a significant improvement in lower back pain after a
couple of weeks. Chronic back pain as a result of prolonged sitting can
definitely be reduced by using this state-of-the-art office item.
Improved energy levels
and mood - There has been claims that this desk has a positive effect on the
overall well-being of a person. There was actually a certain study showing that
it lowered feeling of stress and fatigue whilst improving mood and energy
levels.
Low risk of weight gain
and obesity - Weight gain occurs when you take in more calories than you burn.
On the contrary, burning more calories than you ingest will result in weight
loss. Although exercise is known to be the most efficient way of burning calories,
choosing to stand rather than sit can likewise be very beneficial. Be aware
that standing for an afternoon can burn 170 more calories than an equal amount
of sitting. In time, this difference can surely have a huge impact on your
weight.
Low blood sugar levels
- Sitting after meals could help explain why extreme sedentary time is
associated with 112% greater risk of type 2 diabetes. Using standing desks at
work can help lower blood sugar levels, most especially after lunch.
Low risk of heart
disease - In 1953, it was proposed that standing is better for heart health. A
certain study found that bus conductors had half the risk of heart
disease-related deaths as compared to their colleagues in the driver's seats.
This has prompted scientists to better understand the effects of sitting on
heart health. This further means that the more time you spend just sitting, the
greater is your risk for developing heart disease.
Indeed, there are many
great benefits that these desks offer. No wonder, more and more people are
considering of investing in high quality standing desk these days.
There are lots of
studies showing the positive effects of stand-up desks in a person's life. More
info mentioned here.
Are you tired of
Functional Fitness Gurus telling you what to do?
No?
Didn’t think so!
Check out this video
from JP’s Ultra Spiritual Life:
This guy cracks me up!
"When I see people in the Gym not doing functional exercise, I criticise them in a very educational way. Because I care!"
We all love Functional Training but sometimes we need to look at ourselves in a light-hearted way.
This video makes us reflect on the fact that for our modern sedentary life we don't actually need a high level of fitness to do our 'first world' jobs anymore.
However, what is important is achieving our human potential, especially in the physical realm.
We can't achieve our physical training goals at work.
We can't achieve our full potential if we sit down for 8 hours a day!
So what's the answer?
A sit to stand desk.
We at Bulletproofbodies have been using a standing desk for ages now and the difference to our energy levels and productivity is significant.
Not to mention that we don't get that "I've been sat down all day" feeling that we used to get.
Look at it as training inbetween training sessions.
So check out which desk is best for you by visiting Sit to Stand .com:
We carry on with our theme of the month, which GETTING
FIT.
A
side effect of getting fit will be WEIGHT LOSS.
The
statistics say that in the Western world we are exercising more and eating
less, so why the obesity epidemic?
It's
about the amount of time that we are sedentary throughout the day.
Inactivity
is the World's 4th leading course of preventable disease.
With
our Chair-centric society, the seated place has become dominant:
From Bed to Breakfast table.
From Car to Work.
From Work to the Lunch table and back to Work
From Work back to Car.
From Car to Sitting down for evening meal.
From Dinner table to Sofa
From Sofa back to Bed
But
what if you workout?
Surely
an hours exercise will negate all the effects of sitting?
There is also
evidence that sitting can cancel out the effect of your workout!
WHAT?
That's
right. According to author of the phrase, "Sitting is the new
smoking," Dr James Levine, who is an Endocrinologist and lead researcher
into the effects of prolonged sitting and sedentary behaviour.
It
is about the amount of daily time that you accumulate in the sitting position.
Sitting is an independent risk
factor!
The cure for too much sitting is
not more exercise
Your
metabolism slows down by a staggering 90% after only 30 minutes of sitting.
On
average you would burn 50 calories more per hour by standing than sitting.
To
reduce the amount of time that you sit, the most practical place to change
would be your work station.
Bulletproofbodies
recommend a standing desk.
However,
you could be more daring and go for a Treadmill desk!
Check
out which desk is best for you by visiting Sit
to Stand .com:
