Chances are that you’re probably reading this while sitting down.
And if you’ve even remotely been updated with health news over the past decade, you know that being a heavy sitter is straight-up bad for your overall health!
Sitting is a sickness that’s very bad for us. But unlike other health concerns, there’s something you can do about it. There are quite a few things actually:
1. Walk Every Hour
Taking short walk breaks in between your sitting activates glutes while lengthening the hips front, which will counteract the physiological dangers faced when sitting down. This is not saying that getting up to refill your water a couple of times is going to help reverse the side effects. Walking every hour is a great way to break up the sitting habit.
2. Stretch!
After the rigours of the day of being out and about, our natural inclination is just to sit back and relax – when what we should actually be doing is stretch! After sitting for an extended time, your hips will be stiff when you get up, and that’s due to lack of stretching.
When you get home, do a standing quadriceps stretch or hip flexor lunge stretch and the rest of the day. Hold the stretching for 30 seconds on each side at a time while repeating as necessary until you feel your quads and hips loosened up a bit).
3. Be active outside the workplace
It’s evident that physical activity and movement helps our bodies counteract the dangers of sitting. While getting up and going for walk breaks and stretching makes a difference, there’s no substitute for strengthening and moving your body through actual physical exercise.
4. Adjust your environment and office chair
To mitigate the symptoms of sitting, one of the few impactful tweaks you can do is fix your workplace chair or wherever it is you frequently sit and adjust your work environment.
One of the overlooked features of chairs is their height which is often adjustable. If the chair is too low or too high, it will for sure throw off the alignment of your body.
“When sitting down, your hips should be just above the knee level,” “The feet should firmly be planted on the ground.”
If you’re feeling any uneasiness or pain from prolonged sitting, contact Peak Performance Massage to get some relief today!