You’ve probably heard the popular slogan that “sitting is the new smoking.” But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in four Americans sit for more than eight hours a day.
So what’s the solution if you have to work all day at a desk? Well, the solution has more to do with changing positions and moving efficiently often, rather than ergonomics and the posture you are in (even though these things are important as well!).
Why is sitting dangerous?
With extended periods of sitting due to work being such a recent thing in human history, studies are still trying to catch up with accurate data. What studies have gathered though is sitting is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, poor leg vascular health, reduced temporal lobe thickness, and even increased mortality risk.
These sitting problems often turn into movement gait problems as well, due to the muscles and fascia forming into these inefficient postures leading to tightness and restrictions in muscles and joints, including back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, elbow pain, and carpel tunnel from typing.
If I have perfect posture, can I still sit all day?
Simply put, no. This is merely because as humans, are bodies have not evolved to sit for long periods of time, regardless of how anatomically sound your posture is. It’s best to put your body into different sitting and standing postures, rather than keep it isolated to one static position.
When the body is held in a certain postural position for extended periods of time, the brain to body connection start to accept this new position even from a proprioception standpoint. An example would be, bending over to pull weeds out of your garden. You may not want to constantly hinge at the hips properly or squat down every time to grab a weed, so rounding through your spine to inefficiently bend over to grab weeds, because a stressor to those postural back muscles and also starts to engrain this inefficient movement pattern in your head.
How can I prevent problems from sitting?
We can’t just stop sitting all together, especially if our job consists of working at a desk or work station, but we can start to be proactive. The way we can help to prevent problems from happening is by taking daily physical activity breaks such as a guided stretch break or guided workout.
Try to be as active as you can. A recent study found that you can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease by 24% by trading a half-hour of sedentary activity for something more active.
At the end of the day, let’s focus on adding movement variability to our day and not worry so much about trying to find the perfect posture to sit in for 8 hours.