5 Exercises for Office Workers You Can Do Right Now

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

You spend eight hours a day in the office, sitting at your desk and staring at your monitor. How to maintain health in such conditions? Add five simple exercises to your schedule.

Do you know that sitting at your desk for a long time is almost the same as smoking? The typical position in which we spend most of the day increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and even early death. And the outlines of our body are beginning to resemble potatoes. But is it really that bad if so many people spend hours hunched over their desk in the office, and relax in front of the TV?

“Yes, that's exactly it,” says Vladimir Fridman, a chiropractor, sports medicine specialist at New York's Accelicare Sports Chiropractic Medical Center.

When you sit hunched over for a long time, changes occur in the body at a physiological level. It has been proven that this increases the risk of developing many diseases. Also, you lock your body in a cage. Tissues are weakened and may lose their function.

Vladimir Fridman

The doctor often shows his patients how to maintain the correct position at the table and apply kinesio taping, a technique based on the use of cotton adhesive tapes (if you attach them crosswise to the lower back, it will be easier to maintain posture).

Friedman compares the effect of a static posture with the effect of wearing a cast: when muscle tissue remains motionless for a long time, the fibers shorten and contract, becoming weaker. But make your body move using only your own weight - get up, sit down, go for a walk - and the stress will make the muscles stronger.

Movement promotes the flow of water and nutrients into the tissues, the activity keeps them healthy. And although our work, in which there is more and more mobile technologies, makes us immobile, forcing us to sit and press buttons all the time, we need to think actively and sit also actively.

In other words, do something during your break to keep your tissues moving and toned throughout the day and throughout your life. The life hacker has already suggested what exercises can be done in the office. If they seem too complicated to you, follow the instructions from Dr. Friedman.

1. Make a foot massage

The feet really do lose mobility if you sit in one position for a long time. Lack of movement in the calves and ankles becomes a problem. Take a couple of breaks throughout the day to roll your feet on a massage ball or small bottle of ice water. Take off your shoes, lightly step on the ball or bottle, and roll the object over the arch of your foot. The pressure from the massage will relax the tissues and improve blood circulation.

2. Crouch against a wall

Press your shoulder blades and lower back against the wall, squat down so that your knee and hip joints are bent at an angle of 90 °. Hold this position for a minute. Repeat the exercise three times. You don't need to do more: you don't squat for athletic performance, but to prevent tissue degeneration.

3. Do lunges

The muscles in the thighs, which flex and extend the joints, are shortened from sitting. You need to properly stretch the anterior thigh muscle group: the quadriceps and smaller muscles responsible for movement in the hip joint. Lunge forward with your left foot, bending your knee at a 90 ° angle. The right knee should not touch the floor. Then change your supporting leg. Repeat the exercise 3-4 times a day.

4. Straighten up

From sitting still for a long time, we begin to bend, round our shoulders and stretch our neck forward. To correct the situation, sit on the edge of a chair, resting on your tailbone. Turn your arms at your sides in such a way as to bring your shoulders back and arch your back. At the same time, unfold your feet and spread your hips to the sides. Hold this position for 10 seconds. Repeat 10 times.

5. Stretch your back

This exercise was designed for herniated discs, but is great for correcting sitting at a table. Stand with your palms on your hip bones from your back. This will protect the lumbar spine from over-stretching. Lean back as slowly as you can. Repeat 10 times. Do the exercise once or twice a day.