Exercise General Mental health Physical health A sedentary lifestyle Mar 11, 2020 2spuds 0 Comment Sitting We all do it. I mean I am doing it right now as I write this into the blog portal. We sit down. I saw a programme recently with some alarming statistics about sedentary behaviours and sitting down so thought I had better write about it. Our sitting down journey We spend 8 hours asleep in bedOur morning routine which involves eating breakfast sitting at a table or on the couchTravelling to work we sit in the car, on the bus or on the trainWe arrive at our desks and you guessed it, we sit downAt lunch we walk to the cafeteria, corner shop or supermarket to get lunch and arrive back at work to sit downIn the afternoon we continue to sit at our desksAgain we sit down to travel homeWe make dinner standing but eat it sitting downIn the evening we watch television, check our emails on our phones or play games on the computer, all sitting downThen it is bedtime again There you go, our sitting down journey for the day. We spend a fair proportion of our day sat down. It may not apply to everyone Now I admit that this does not apply to everyone. My job is very much standing based and Rosie’s job is also very active. Yes Rosie travels a fair bit for work but all in all it is active. Saying that in the morning or the evening we may also go to the gym or take in a gym class therefore we stop sitting down (for a bit). The bad news There is some bad news about sitting down. Firstly it does us no good sitting down for long periods of time. There are several other reasons why it is bad too. It can increase our risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, dementia, some cancers, DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and varicose veinsYour glutes (big muscles in your bum) are not firing sitting down and your lower back is at risk of damage (be it muscle, ligament or discs)Your posture could change into a bad position (usually with your shoulders rounded and the nice curve in your back coming out of alignment)Weight gain and anxiety could creep up as well Slipped disc Having had a slipped disc two years ago I can safely say that this is something you do not want. I was in agony for weeks and it took months of rehab to get better from it. Now my slipped disc wasn’t caused by sitting down I am just demonstrating the potential damage it can do. The good news Now for the good news, you can fix it. You! By taking little steps to counteract sitting you could reverse some of the bad points listed above. Below are a few things you can change: Stand on the bus or train (hold on)Take stairs or walk escalatorsMove around every 30 minutes (if you manager has an issue with this then please direct them to 2 Spuds who will be happy to point out why you are moving around)Stand whilst on the phone and walk around to your colleagues desk rather than phone/email themSet a pedometer to get your steps target everydayTry doing some different activities rather than sitting and watching television/playing on the computerGo to the gym for a postural analysis and back strengthening exercisesAs the summer months rolls in you can start going for walks in the evening Get active I say get active. Start small and aim big. Start by walking up 2 flights of stairs and then progress to 10. When going to the supermarket park your car at the other end of the car park and walk to the store. Try getting up in advert breaks on the television and move around. In short Get active! Move around more! Stop sitting down! Look after your body! -Helen Ps. The programme I was watching is called “Easy Ways to Live Well” and you can find it on BBC iPlayer.