Office Balance, 30 minute mobilisation class to combat the effects of sitting

“Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV, and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.

”Dr. James Levine, director of the Mayo Clinic-Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative

1. Organ damage

Forget about backaches, what you should really be worried about is the impact of sitting on your internal organs. When you sit for a long period of time your muscles burn less fat and your blood begins to flow slowly, allowing fatty acids to easily clog your heart. Sitting has been linked to high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease. In addition, your pancreas may over produce insulin, which can lead to diabetes, and studies have linked sitting to a greater risk for developing colon, breast, and endometrial cancers.

2. Muscle degeneration

You know those rock-hard abs you’ve been working towards? Keep in mind that sitting does nothing to help that six-pack peek through. When you’re standing your abdominal muscles are tensed and tightened, but when you sit, those muscles go unused, ultimately leading to a weak mid-section. Sitting can also impact the mobility of your hips and the strength of your glutes. Sitting in a chair all day will make your hips tight with a more limited degree of motion because they are rarely extended. Your glutes can weaken with lack of use affecting your stability and power when walking and jumping.

3. Weight gain

This one is fairly obvious. No one who sits for nine or more hours a day is disillusioned enough to believe that sitting down is great for the waistline. Obese people typically sit for two and a half more hours per day than thin people. Between 1980 and 2000 while exercise rates remained the same, obesity doubled as time spent sitting increased by 8%.

4. Loss of brainpower

When you sit at your desk you may be solving all sorts of problems, organizing tasks, and using plenty of critical thinking skills, but even in the most stimulating of jobs your brain can become foggy from sitting for long periods of time. Moving muscles pump fresh blood and oxygen to the brain, which triggers the release of brain and mood enhancing chemicals. Your brain function will actually slow when you’re sedentary for long periods of time.

5. Back and neck pain

One of the most common and very physical symptoms of living much of your life in a seated position is the presence of back and neck pain. Cradling a phone to your ear and jutting your neck and

head forward while working at a computer leads to strains in your cervical vertebrae which causes neck strain, sore shoulders, and back pain. The very act of sitting puts added pressure on your spine and compresses the disks that make up your back.