SHARES
“My job is busy. I would be stuck to my desk for long hours. At the end of the day, my back would ache, my heart thumping wild and my head feels like cracking.” Jane, a 35 years old banker, finds herself sitting too much at work and burnout often.
How is Sitting Too Much Bad for Health?
Generally, living a sedentary lifestyle where we sit down most of the time is bad for your health. Our body metabolism slows down and we gain weight easily. In the long run, poor body metabolism can give us chronic illnesses that affect the entire body system. For instance, high blood pressure, diabetes, and high blood cholesterol. In return, we are put at higher risk for heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, heart failure and the list goes on.
On top of that, when we are facing stressful situation, our body prepares itself for “fight-or-flight” mode. This makes our heart pumps wild, and tenses up our body muscles. In short, the energy generated is meant for us to think fast and react to it. However, when we glue ourselves to desk and chair, these energy are hardly channeled into bigger actions or movement other than small fidgeting, writing, typing etc. Therefore, our mind cannot seem to stop racing. This anxious energy can easily escalate into frustration and anger outburst. Eventually, when we are all worn down, we fall into depression. This left us with not much energy to make choices except to give up on a few. In this sense, we can experience many stress-related symptoms like muscle aches, headache, changes to appetite and sleep, constipation, indigestion, etc.
Besides, we tend to have poor sitting posture when we are tired. This leads to tightness and aches over our back, neck and shoulder. Also, there are many muscles that are underused. This makes them weaker and fail to support our joints movement especially at the knees and hip. As a result, our joints wear down faster (osteoarthritis). Similarly, our bones become weaker (osteoporosis) because of less exercise and activity.
Surprisingly, studies are showing that despite regular exercises, the harmful effect of sitting too much seems to outweigh the benefits gained from exercising. Thus, practicing an active lifestyle would require a change in the way we work at our desk.
Tips for Better Health at Desk Jobs
1. Use a Standing Table
Free your motions beyond a chair. This keeps your metabolism high and improve your blood circulation. You would find yourself more energetic throughout the day with sharper thinking and higher productivity. What’s better when you are allowed to express yourself more, be yourself and let out stressful and anxious energy when needed.
Photo by Juhan Sonin from Flickr
2. Take a Break to Move and Stretch Often
Schedule in time short rest every now and then. You would want to recharge before you’re burnt-out. Move around to grab a cup of refreshing water and do some stretching exercises.
3. Walk, Walk and Walk
A simple way to keep your metabolism up is to walk often. For example, take the stairs when you can, walk to get food outside, take the public transport, or even park your car outside.
4. Take Your Work Away from Your Desk
Often times, different type of deskwork would require very different type of energy to do well. Multitasking and cramping all the work in one desk or screen simply mix up all the emotions into confusion.
As an example, if you want to send friendly email to your customers, dedicate a time in the park/ playground outside where you can work on your craft. Likewise, when you need great amount of focus on a strenuous and risky task, dedicate an empty counter by the window just to do that. This allows you to call it a stop when needed and leave the space without bringing any of those emotions into other works. By doing so, you are getting the best out of all invested energy and time.
In this context, the key element to make this work – is the “transition”. By walking away from a space, you are allowing yourself enough time to gather yourself and get ready to transit into your next task with the right energy.
Photo by Tomislav Bicanic from Flickr
Conclusion
Last but not least, exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet. Pamper yourself with good food and enjoyable activities. Life and work can go hand-in-hand. You can always get the best out of both world starting from bits to bits.
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References:
1. Laskowski ER. What are the risks of sitting too much [MayoClinic]? Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. 2020. (Available from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/sitting/faq-20058005; last updated on 2018 May 8; last accessed on 2020 Mar 17)
2. The dangers of sitting: why sitting is the new smoking [Internet]. Department of Health & Human Services. Australia. 2020. (Available from: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/the-dangers-of-sitting; last updated on 2018 Aug; last accessed on 2020 Mar 17)
by Chang Xian
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