Sitting is killing you
charting …. and then came Wealthy Affiliate. I can sit for many hours at my computer, completely absorbed, forgetting all about time, even ignoring numb feet and tingling sometimes.
So, not sitting down presents a problem – and I’m guessing that it would for many here on WA as well. I thought I’d post this article for those of you who also have a sitting problem, and for those who don't have a problem ... yet: http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/sitting-kills/
In summary, the article says that people with sitting jobs have twice the rate of cardiovascular disease as people with standing jobs.
"As soon as you sit: * Electrical activity in your legs muscles shuts off ; * Calorie burning drops to 1 per minute ; * Enzymes that help burn fat drop 90% ; * Good cholesterol drops 20% after 2 hours"
The recommended 30 minutes of exercise / day is not enough, so, if you have a sitting job whether at home or at your place of employment, get up and walk around for a few minutes every so often (eg. every 30 minutes), run on a treadmill, do stretching exercises, madly dance around to music, whatever …..or drink
water! It's healthy and makes you get up and walk around quite a bit to use the bathroom and get more water.
Another alternative is to get a ‘standing desk’ and that is what I’m going to try next – I hate distractions. I can alternate between sitting and standing. Standing for long periods takes some getting used to and also has other health issues.
Don't wait until you have prolonged-sitting health issues - do something about it now.
Recent Comments
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Great advice! I've noticed that I have a tendency to get so focused on what I'm doing I often "forget" to get up every so often and end up feeling so sore and can hardly get up when I do attempt it. I do have a job that is pretty physical, plus it requires standing and walking for sometimes the whole day except for breaks of course, so I do get some physical exercise when I'm at work. When I'm at home I try to get out for a walk with the dogs, but there are many days I'm just too exhausted.
Lately, I've been trying to get up and go do something for at least a few minutes or more after every 20-30 minutes spent sitting. But, of course I slip up a lot still and often realize it only when I feel my butt is getting sore, eyes are going blurry, and legs are numb that I just spent at least the past 4 or more hours sitting at my computer and have barely moved anything but my hands and fingers.
Oh, and then to attempt getting up is another thing! Although I'm not even close to being that old yet, I feel like I'm in worse shape than an 80-year old when I do this!
Thanks for sharing Mariette! -Sherry
I can totally forget time and only realize hours later just how long I've been sitting there. Yes, it can be painful getting up and getting the blood flowing again and the joints lubricated.
G'day Mariette, so true, so true! I have noticed everything you mention. At least you have your morning ocean walks! As you say time flies when online, so I have a new trick to share. I use my kitchen timer, and before every session on the computer, I set it to 20 minutes. When time expires, it jingles loud and clear. That's my cue to get up, stretch, get a cuppa or exercise.
I used to get a sore neck, but since doing this I have noticed a big improvement. Gotta go now, the jingle,,,lol,,, just gave me the command. ~ Jude
lol - I'd be hitting the snooze button and working on.
Woke up with a bad cramp in one leg this morning, so took the mutts off for a walk at 6am - I'm now in need of another one.
Sound advice. I make sure that I move frequently. I have to or I would never be able to move and I spend some of the day working standing up.
Great reminder Animate - thanks so much!!! We're so busy and excited building our dreams that we forget dreams won't happen unless we take care of ourselves!!
Ken
I know all this sitting is killing me, I can feel it. I'm not so involved with WA, but have an absolute addiction to Pinterest, and can sit there for 3-5 hrs easy, plus emails and everything else. Then I finally get up an can barely stand, so what do I do? I go downstairs, and sit down and do one craft or another, then I feed animals and sit and watch a movie, then go to bed. I realize that on a lot of days, I hardly stand at all, except for animal things, and I know it's killing me. If it wasn't for my business at the antique mall, where I lug stuff back and forth once a week, and walking the dogs now and then, I'd get no exercise at all. I have everything I need to do it, I just have gotten in this habit of sitting, as I'm sure a lot of people have, between sit-down jobs TV and computers, and for me all my favorite activities involve sitting, and now I want to learn to play the piano, another sitting thing. Geez, it's amazing I'm not dead already. I don't think people really think about it until they actually look at what they do all day. Anyway, I'm starting to do 30 min a day on my treadmill, and try to undo the damage, but yeah, I can totally relate, plus some, to what you're saying.
Bodies are such a nuisance aren't they? Always a twinge here or there, or needing attention - they just get in the way of progress. My dogs get a daily walk and if it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't bother - I can't enjoy a walk without them.
As long as we are now aware of what we are doing and what we can do to alleviate the problem, things should improve (providing we move around more than we have been).
Yeah, sometimes I feel about 100 years old. I wish my knees didn't pop going upstairs, and I wouldn't be huffing and puffing just from walking too fast, and wish I didn't have to stop what I'm doing to go eat, exercise, or any of the things I need to be doing. I wasn't so bad a couple years ago, then I retired, then a few months later I tried not to step on my cat and ended up falling and breaking my wrist, took 8 months to heal, I got real good at sitting then, and now I kind of shuffle through the house, for fear of the same thing happening. I use to drive the dogs to the park every day, and walk around the lake, now I just don't have the energy, and have to force myself to go at all. It's amazing, one little thing happens, and it changes everything, then it's soooo hard to get your life back again. I think if I worked on WA as much as some people do, they'd just find me dead at my computer someday, it's all too much sitting, and not moving, like you said, so I'm trying to make some small changes, you have to start somewhere, right?
Well, I'm going to pry myself away from this computer for the night, you should do the same. Maybe we should just go walk the dogs???? ttyl
My day job is very physical, so I do get a lot of exercise before I come home and work on WA, but even so I'm aware that I shouldn't be sitting long periods without getting up and moving around somewhat. Fortunately, I have a maddening large family that rarely lets me alone so that drags me out of my chair on a regular basis...
Oh, the luxury of peace, being left undisturbed to get on with things! You might feel blessed to have a large family, and doubly blessed when they all go out! ;o)
I know what you mean, I rather stand the whole day (a requirement for my job) than sitting...so I make sure that I do some stretching in between:) Nenita
Yep - l can relate to all of the above! That site is a real wake-up. I can feel my enzymes dropping as I write... and the electrical impulses in the brain aren't faring too well either.
:) george
Maybe you need to do some head-stands George, to get some blood flowing to your brain, may help the counterflow of enzymes as well .... mmm? I'm standing up as I type this and my feet hurt. Us oldies could have a good whinge session, but won't do any good.
I know this so well, and yet it's still good to hear. In my case, moderate osteoarthritis in both hips/lower back is what bug me. So while I'm on the computer (laptop) a lot, I also am getting up and down a lot during the day. Even just doing *that* little bit makes a difference. Small steps that can lead to running.
Thanks for the reminder :) And for all how have nothing wrong, double-count and give thanks you have it that way.
Oh, yeah, I forgot about my back that aches sometimes, and a sore bum. I've tried mind over matter, just a bit hard when the matter hurts.
Heating pad on hips at night. Works wonders (need to get a new one this year). Also, physical therapy to strengthen the core muscles. I was amazed at how much stiffness and pain was minimized just by simple stretching a few times a week. Now that I have been less routine about it, I can feel the difference.
Magnetic underlay on your bed is good for stiff muscles due to build up of lactic acid over night. I'll have to find some stretches to do - my problem is that I'm lazy, and prefer to ignore bodily aches ... until they get too much.
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I'm lucky that my job has yoga three times a week. But even so at home I have a yoga mat rolled up behind where I work. So I can get off the chair and do some exercises. Inversions (being upside down) are a great way to 'reset' the body and help with the blood pressure. In fact, I can see a post coming on. :D
Oh good - post some good EASY stretching exercises for us less limber people to follow - no Lotus positions please.
Actually I did a lot of Dahn Yoga first. Regardless of the high pressure sales tactics, there was a lot of good foundation of exercise to it. Lots of low impact stuff. Although I'm sure I can't reproduce all that, I can point out how easy it is to make a yoga spot. Give people ideas.