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

  • Calling all vegans and vegetarians…

    Choline is an essential nutrient that humans must get through their diet, the most common food sources are meat, poultry, fish, dairy product and eggs.  Non-meat sources include wheatgerm and brussels sprouts. It is needed to produce acetylcholine an important neurotransmitter for among other things:

    • Memory
    • Mood
    • Muscle control
    Researchers have discovered that taking a daily choline dietary supplement could reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s and it should be something that vegetarians and vegans in particular should be doing.  The Arizona researchers estimated that the currently daily recommendations of 550mg for men and 425mg for women can be quadrupled without causing any side-effects, and at these higher levels, choline would have a greater protective effect. Reference https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/acel.13037

  • So massage is safe for pregnant women, but is it effective?

    Last week we established that massage is safe for pregnant women.  A scientific review of studies of pregnancy in massage fond that pregnant women who received massage had

    • decreased depression
    • decreased anxiety
    • decreased leg and back pain
    In addition pregnant women who received massage had reduced
    • reduced cortisol levels
    • reduced excessive fetal activity
    • lower rate of prematurity (a baby being born before its 37 weeks old)
    For pregnant women who received massage during labour they
    • experienced less pain
    • required less medication
    • had shorter labours (on average 3 hours shorter)
    The study concluded massage is effective for pregnant women. Reference Field T. Pregnancy and labor massage. Expert review of obstetrics & gynecology. 2010;5(2):177-181. doi:10.1586/eog.10.12.

  • Can massage help you if you are constipated?

    Recently scientists have looked at the impact of abdominal massage on people with constipation. Constipation affects twice as many women as men.  Older people are more likely to be affected and in addition taking certain medications e.g. opioids can cause it. A randomised control trail of 204 patients with constipation (from opioid medication), were split into two equal groups.  The intervention group were taught how to administer abdominal massage on themselves, in a clockwise direction over the intestines on the abdominal wall, which they performed twice a day for four weeks after breakfast & dinner. The control group received standard medical care, such as laxatives, suppositories and enemas. Both groups were asked to keep a diary of their bowel movements and to complete three questionnaires, including the Bristol stool scale for evaluating stools and bowel habits, the visual analogue scale, which contains questions about constipation, including severity, straining & pain. Patients in the massage group reported significant improvements in stool consistency, straining during defecation, the feeling of incomplete emptying after defecation and experienced increase bowel movements.  They also reported a reduction in the severity of constipation, pain, straining, gas & fullness in the rectum.  However, the massage had no effect on the stool amount. The researchers concluded that abdominal massage was an effective approach for managing opioid induced constipation.  So if you suffer from constipation consider abdominal massage. Reference https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31358243