Stand Up for Your Health
By Jules Delorme
One of the unhealthiest things that we do as human beings is sitting, particularly sitting in a chair. No other animal does this. Okay, so a few chimps and monkeys can be trained to sit in a chair and wear clothes like human beings, but, as cute as that is, it’s not something the monkey or chimp would do if they weren’t made to do it. Studies have shown that people who spend a lot of time sitting not only stores more stress fat, the worst fat you can have, but they also have more heart problems, are more prone to cancer and diabetes than people who do not. And here’s thing: Now that many more of us are working from home, we get to work in our pajamas, yes, but many of us are spending more time sitting than we would in the office. We lose track of time. There’s nobody’s desk to get up and go over to. Nobody to stand and gossip with about the latest Netflix show. Without distractions, many of us actually end up doing more work for a longer period of time than we would at the office. That’s great for your employer. But not so good for you because you end up sitting more. And even if you’re one of those people just sitting watching cooking videos at your computer you are still spending more time in the chair than you would at the office. Add to that the largely unconscious stress of being cooped up inside and you have a perfect storm for worsening health. Now, you’ve probably heard about the problems of sitting. You may even pull out the exercise ball to sit on for periods of time, and that is good. But you can do more than that, and you probably need to do more than that if you don’t want to sink down into that bad health spiral. Some of it is simple. Start out by setting a timer allowing yourself no more than ten or fifteen minutes of sitting time in a row. Stand up for a few seconds. Shake it out. Just shaking it out can help loosen all those muscles that end up carrying your weight and stress while you’re sitting. Every once in a while walk around a bit. Pet your dog or your cat if you have one. You can find more in depth stretches on the internet if you want to do that. Don’t do anything crazy. Focus on the Posterior Chain stretches. That’s your Hamstrings, Calves, Glutes, Lower Back, the Rhomboids, those small muscles in your Upper Back and the Trapezius muscles that connect your neck to your body. Those last two can get particularly tight with stress and sitting at a computer. Give your head a shake. Those muscles in your neck and face get tight when you sit in one place too. Most of all just get up every once in a while and move around. Your boss can’t see you. Take a little break. Stand up at least almost as much as you sit down. Your body and your mind will thank you. And you’ll look so much better in those pajamas.
~ Jules Delorme is a Personal
Trainer & MMA Coach,
julesfdelorme@gmail.com