Take a moment and just think about how many hours a day you spent sitting? Now … how many hours a day do you spend moving around, maybe even exercising?
Regardless of how you twist it, the numbers are off. While sitting for short periods of time can be beneficial for our bodies and can help our body to better recover from a workout or cope with stressful situations, our 21st century lifestyles literally ground us to a chair. These days, we simply spend too much time sitting and not moving
Why is that a problem? What’s the big deal?
Well, our bodies simply aren’t built for sitting for long period of times. Instead, we are built to move. Since sitting is simply unnatural for our spine, sitting on a desk in a rather hunched position results not only in an overall bad posture but can also lead to long term back problems.
Concentration issues are another common cause of stationary work. Ironically, we often sit down to think. At work, you might be seated to work on a project, in school, you are most likely sitting to write an essay or work on a presentation. However, sitting can actually be counterproductive as it reduced blood flow and the amount of oxygen entering your bloodstream through your lungs. Consequently, your concentration levels are most likely to decrease when sitting down for long periods of time. That’s why some universities offer active study areas where students can slowly walk on treadmills while reading or writing an article.
While the idea of active study areas is awesome, most offices are simply not equipped with a treadmill for you to walk during work. However, there are numerous ways you can still get up and move around. For example, replacing your office chair with an aerobic ball is great way to take any pressure of your spine. Click here to read more about the benefits of Deskercising!
