The Impact of Sitting All Day – Part 6

Studies have shown that an alert body and active lifestyle boosts not just productivity, but also happiness and satisfaction levels. There is now an explosion of research studies that demonstrate the harmful effects of sitting all day, which I have covered in past blog posts.

In my last blog post, “Taking a Break“, I explored the reasons for taking a break and looked at the latest research on the length of break you need to take and the frequency.

So now I want to focus on strategies to get you moving…

Use an Exercise Ball for a Chair

Unlike sitting in a chair, sitting on a exercise ball engages your core muscles and helps improve your balance & flexibility. Occasionally bouncing can also help your body interact with gravity to a greater degree than sitting on a stationary chair.

Use the Stairs

Walk up and down stairs, rather than take the lifts.  Even if you only walk up or down one flight of stairs and then take the lift the rest of the way it will have a positive impact on your health.

Walk & Talk Meeting

If you have an informal meeting with a colleague why not suggest a walk & talk meeting, weather permitting you could always go outside and get some fresh air too!

Pedometer

Using a pedometer will help you asses how many steps you take throughout the day. Taking a roundabout way to your desk, taking the stairs or walking to the next tube station as part of your commute will help you increase the number of steps you take daily.

Exercise while you Sit at your desk

An Amercian start up company, FitnessCubed, has come up with Cubii, an under-desk elliptical trainer that allows you to do basic exercise while you sit at a standard office desk. (It requires no changes to your existing desk set up.) They have also produced a mobile app that allows you to track your workout and you can also share your work out results – so you could even hold an inter-office competition.

Related Posts

  • Smell the wellness

    I had always assumed that its just tradition that you buy flowers for somebody that is ill.  Speaking as a woman who loves flowers, its always nice to receive flowers but I had underestimated their power. Research completed by the American Society of Horticulture Science discovered that surgical patients exposed to flowers or plants in their recovery rooms have

    • lower blood pressure
    • lower heart rates
    • less pain
    • less anxiety
    • less fatigue
    When compared to patients who whose rooms have no foliage, flowers or plants.   In fact, patients who had plants in their room even reported more positive feelings and satisfaction about their rooms than those without plants. So clearly there is a lot of wisdom in the tradition of buying flowers for people when they are ill. Reference https://journals.ashs.org/horttech/view/journals/horttech/18/4/article-p563.xml

  • So how does massage help “tired” muscles?

    Many clients come to our clinics a few days after vigorous work outs or competing in sporting competition because their legs feel tried or heavy.  These clients often book a sports massage, but is their any scientific evidence to explain what is happening in the body during the treatment? Massage dilates superficial blood vessels and increases the rate of blood flow.  In addition if a deeper pressure is used like in sports or deep tissue massage on a healthy adult it improves the venous return.  Both of these changes to the blood flow represent a potent means to accelerate healing.  For example, it suggests that massage should improve the performance of fatigued muscles.  In addition, Goats asserts that massaged muscle fibres display less spasm, an increased force of contraction and enhanced endurance compared with muscles simply rested.  Which suggests that massage will assist in the improvement of sporting performance where it has been compromised. References Scull CD (1945) Massage - Physiologic Basis.  Archive of Physical Medicine 26: 159-67 Wilkins RW, Halperin MH, Litter J. (1950)  The effects of various physical procedures on circulation in human limbs.  Ann Intern Med 33: 1232-45 Goats GC (1994) Massage - the scientific basis of an ancient art: part 2.  Physiological and therapeutic effects Br J Sp Med 28(3)

  • Hypertension – Introduction

    HyperTension   Every year May 17th is dedicated to World Hypertension Day (WHD).  The purpose of WHD is to promote public awareness of hypertension.  In keeping with the spirit of the day, I am going to blog about Hypertension throughout May. So what is Hypertension? It is a stage of great psychological stress which causes abnormally high blood pressure.  The graphic to the left, indicates what is considered, low, normal, pre-high blood pressure and high blood pressure. We all know that if we go to the GP they check our blood pressure, but why is it so important? Firstly high blood pressure or hypertension is very common, according to the NHS it affects 1 in 4 adults in the UK.  Secondly it has no symptoms hence it is often referred to as the silent killer.   Thirdly it is the simply most significant risk factor for a range of diseases including:

    1. heart disease
    2. congestive heart failure
    3. stroke
    4. kidney disease
    5. dementia
    The good news is that high blood pressure or hypertension is very easy to treat with mediation.  In addition there are a wide variety of lifestyle changes and therapy treatments that may assist hypertension. Read part 2