How to stay healthy by sitting 8 hours a day

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Recently, stand-up workstations have become more and more popular, but not everyone can spend the whole day on their feet. Here's the experience of buying a stand-up desk from Michael Cho, his reasons for abandoning the workstation, and some tips on how to reduce the harm from a sedentary lifestyle. If you spend 8-10 hours a day sitting, it is really worth considering your health.

The Crew blog (a network that helps developers and designers meet for collaborative short-term projects) posted a post by co-founder, Mikael Cho, describing his experience behind a stand-up station. If you are thinking about optimizing your workplace, it is worth reading this and deciding which suits you best.

Buying and abandoning a standing table

I've always wanted a stand-up table, heard about its benefits, and read about research results. For example, the American Cancer Society tracked 123,000 people around the age of 18 and found that mortality among those who sat for more than six hours a day was significantly higher.

Another study involved more than 200,000 people and found that people who exercise at least five times a week still have an increased risk of illness if they sit in one place for a long time.

One company even ran a test that showed that standing tables can help increase productivity by 10%.

All the research was about tossing your chair out of the way, and I decided to do so when I moved to my new office. I ordered a $ 22 table from IKEA and felt like a proud dad when I fully assembled it.

The next day, I arrived at the office, ready to stand all day, but only stood for an hour until my legs were tired. My back and shoulders started to ache, but I struggled. He brought his shoulder blades together, with all his might opposed the force of gravity, which seemed to become twice as strong.

Even though I struggled with the pain, I felt it was good pain, like muscle pain after exercise. I felt like I was exercising and this discomfort is just part of the process.

After two hours of standing work, I took a break. It seemed that sitting was a wonderful invention of mankind.

When I felt I was ready for the next round, I started to work standing again.

However, now the legs and back are tired after 20 minutes. I still didn’t give up trying, believing that this was part of training and my body had to get used to it.

After two weeks, I was able to stand for four hours a day, but I still needed intermittent breaks. This is okay for me because I often need breaks during the day to invigorate and maintain a productive state.

The problem with the standing desk was that it forced me to go to rest at a time when my brain did not need a break and wanted to work.

It was difficult for me to get into the stream while I was standing. The standing station helped me stay focused on tasks like checking emails and answering emails.

But for other tasks that required more concentration than writing, I was unable to concentrate because I was thinking more about pain in my legs than anything else.

And even if this pain was good for me, I thought about it at the expense of my work. It is because of this that I destroyed my standing station.

Maybe I lost my prospects for health and productivity, but the standing station didn't help me perform better. And I put this criterion in the first place when equipping my workplace.

When work is in progress, I do not want to be interrupted due to pain in my legs, when the thought has gone, I do not want to stop because of discomfort in my lower back. I just want to think about my business and not be distracted.

I liked being active every day, it added happiness to my life. But a stand-up workstation is not mine. I've found several other ways to stay active every day.

Is it true that sitting is as bad as smoking?

Research over the past few years has shown that prolonged sitting is the smoking of our generation. This is partly due to the emergence of a large number of professions where you have to sit in front of a computer screen all day - much more than people did in the past generation.

There is really nothing wrong with sitting. It is the prolonged sitting without movement that kills. Staying in a different position without moving for a long time (for example, standing) is also not good for your health.

In many studies of the negative effects of sitting, scientists primarily point to extended periods of physical inactivity.

When we are not moving, the risk of cardiovascular disease increases, blood circulation and the production of enzymes that break down fat are impaired.

A standing workstation can be a solution to the problem of prolonged sitting, but it does not solve the problem of inactivity.

Of course, you can burn a few extra calories if you replace the stool with a standing workstation, but such a day puts a lot of stress on your legs, so that varicose veins and negative consequences for knee joints are possible.

The point is not whether you are sitting or standing. The essence is in motion.

While vigorous exercise can be beneficial to your health, it is not necessary to add years to your life.

The main thing is movement, not going to the gym

Dan Buettner, a National Geographic researcher, and his team have explored blue zones - areas where people live the longest and lead healthier lives.

The most interesting thing is that most people in such areas do not go to the gym, and their daily activity is of a different kind.

One of these zones is located in Japan, in Okinawa. There, people are five times less likely to develop colon and breast cancer, and they live an average of seven years longer than the average American. In their culture, people sit on the floor and have to get up off the floor 30-40 times a day.

Another example is a village in Sardinia, Italy. There are 10 times more people living for over 100 years than in the United States.

Centenarians settle in vertically built houses, in which they constantly have to walk up the stairs. In addition, their land is not very fertile and requires regular, low-intensity labor.

In each of these communities, walking is the standard form of transportation. Büttner argues that this is the only proven way to avoid cognitive and general bodily deterioration, increase activity levels, and live a healthy, long life.

Buettner's findings are backed up by research conducted in the United States. American neurologists have followed 300 patients for 13 years.

People who walked more had a reduction in the risk of memory problems by about half. The study found that nine miles a week (about two kilometers a day) is the optimal distance that is necessary for health.

If you enjoy going to the gym, that's great. Exercise will help you become stronger, happier, and add several years to your life. But if you can't find the time to exercise or have injuries that make it difficult to enjoy the gym, there are other ways to increase the activity your body needs.

How not to die from constant sitting

Walking is one way to get more active during the day. But sometimes you can't get out of the office to walk. Maybe the weather is awful or your deadlines are burning.

Here are three easy ways to get more active in the office.

1. Work with legs raised higher

If you work with your feet on the floor, blood circulation is impaired. However, you can deal with this and equip your workplace so that your legs are slightly higher.

Also, one study found that a 135-degree chair back can help reduce the strain on the back from constant sitting.

Thus, you can adjust the back of your chair to 135 degrees and put a bedside table or stool under the table to restore blood circulation in your legs.

2. Do regular squats

Squats are the best way to boost the production of enzymes that break down fat in your body and are great exercises to keep your legs circulating.

And you don’t have to change into your jersey, just do as many squats as you can while you wait for the microwave, coffee maker, or printer to be free.

Even in Moscow, introducing people to sports, squats were chosen: they installed an automatic machine in the metro, which for 30 squats gave one free metro ride.

3. Stretch

Many of the muscles surrounding the thighs are associated with tissues in the lower back. So if you are used to working at a desk for several years, the muscles in your thighs can "clog" and create lower back pain. To get rid of this, you can stretch.

Coach Kelly Starrett, having worked in the gym since 2005, noticed that athletes tend to have trouble doing something as simple as the squat.

He has developed a stretching system that helps reduce the risk of injury and improve athletic performance.

Try these exercises every day, they take no more than three minutes and can help you get rid of clogged muscle problems.

So, if standing tables are right for you, great. But if not, don't be discouraged. After all, standing still all day is not much better than sitting.