When else in history have so many of the population sat for so long on a daily basis? Think about it, you sit for 8 hours a day at work. You sit in your car or on the bus to commute to and from home. You sit to eat dinner and breakfast with your family. You sit at the couch to watch TV before bed.
This issue leads to several problems.
First, why do you think so many office workers complain about back pain?
The human body was design with activity and motion in mind. We are naturally equipped to carry things, run, lift, reach, grab, pull, and any myriad of other verbs you can think of. Sitting for hours on end, even in the most ergonomic of chairs, adds stress to the joints. Not to mention your core muscles are slowly degraded from no use.
Don’t you often find yourself groggy and unable to focus at work?
Couldn’t it be because you’re in a relaxed position all day? Again, in history, we humans used to sit mostly at leisure settings, such as eating or visiting with friends. If your sitting all day, your body relaxes, then your mind relaxes, then you relax. A relaxed mind doesn’t make for efficient work, now does it?
Your body hurts, you’re tired, do you feel like working off that weight you promised yourself you would lose?
No. Of course not. Who feels like exercising after trying to stay awake through a day of meetings, writing emails, checking documents, and making calls?
What if I told you standing for most or all of your work day would eliminate all these problems?
It makes sense, doesn’t it? If you’re standing, you are strengthening your core muscles and back muscles. You are focused and alert. And, you will lose weight without having to add any exercise.
Wait, what? How do you back that last one up?
I invite you to check out this website: juststand.org. You type in your weight and hours you work, and it calculates how many calories you would burn standing up versus sitting down.
To give you an idea of what a difference it makes, I would burn an extra 521 Calories a day standing during an 8-hour job. That’s about what I would burn running two and a half miles.
Just something to think about.
