AUGUST 20, 2021
Quick and easy tips, stretches, and exercises to protect your health from the harmful effects of too much sitting
In this ever-growing digital world, we’re more connected to our devices than ever before.
With so many lifestyles relying on computers and smartphones, many of us are confined to a desk for several hours a day.
And the pandemic has caused an explosion in the number of people who work from home.
Unfortunately, these factors cause many of us to spend a good majority of our time sitting––a totally different worldwide epidemic that, if left unchecked, can wreak havoc on our health and wellbeing.
But the good news is, with a little focus and dedication, you can easily counteract it.
Keep reading as we cover some helpful tips, stretches, and exercises you can start using today to help reduce and even prevent the adverse effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
Recent research has established a link between sitting too much and negative health outcomes like increased risk of cardiovascular issues, circulatory disruptions blood sugar problems, and even premature mortality.
But the key to combating long hours of sitting is quite simple. All you have to do is add regular standing and, if possible, walking breaks into your schedule.
One meta-review study found that breaking up long bouts of sitting with periods of standing and walking improved participants’ glucose metabolism, insulin response, good cholesterol, and even reduced the risk of clotting.
But how often should you get up and move around? And how can you organize your breaks around work restrictions?
We’re glad you asked.
Try following these health-saving tips to ensure you’re getting enough movement in throughout the day:
Staying in a seated position for long periods of time can lead to tightness in your back, hip flexors, hamstrings, chest, and neck.
This stress is often caused by bad posture and muscles being held in a shortened position for too long.
So, naturally, one of the best ways to loosen things up is to stretch.
Below, we’ve compiled five tension-relieving, posture-improving stretches you can do to help minimize the harmful effects of sitting. For pictures and an in-depth description of how to perform each stretch, follow the included links:
If you’re unable to stretch at work, take some time afterward for a quick session including each of these poses.
The human body wasn’t meant to be seated for so long. Adding these movements into your daily routine can help offset and even prevent the loss of strength and mobility that often comes with too much sitting.
As with many health issues, regular exercise is one of the best ways of undoing the damage done by sitting.
Walking alone is enough to make a great deal of difference in several health markers, but we’ve got some other exercises you can use to strengthen your sitting defense:
Your body craves movement. Give it what it needs by carving out some time each day for these health-boosting exercises.
When we talk about what sitting does to the body, the reason for all these adverse effects boils down to a simple lack of movement.
And what happens when we stay seated, not moving for hours? Our circulation becomes sluggish. Our blood pools in our feet and has trouble flowing back to our hearts.
So, in reality, sitting is largely a blood flow issue.
Luckily, with BEMER therapy, you can actively increase your local circulation and counteract the effects of prolonged sitting––while sitting!
The BEMER Office-Pack comes with a specially adapted applicator called the B.SIT that fits perfectly into any office chair, so you can improve your health and wellbeing while you work.
In two eight-minute sessions a day, the B.SIT directly targets healthy leg, hip, and lower back muscles with a therapeutic pulsed-electromagnetic field (PEMF), stimulating muscle activity at the cellular level.*
Use your BEMER consistently, and you just might find all sorts of improvements in your health and wellbeing, such as enhanced*:
The BEMER Office-Pack is the perfect solution for anyone who spends long hours sitting, whether you’re at work or working from home.
Want an unfair advantage in the fight against sitting? Find a nearby BEMER distributor to get started today.
BEMER does not provide any medical advice or services. This device is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. It should not be used for any purpose other than as described in the user manual. Please consult your own healthcare provider if you have any medical issues.
As Functional and Performance Therapist for the San Francisco 49ers, Tom Zheng may utilize BEMER as part of his regimen to assist with various health challenges. This spokesperson may have been compensated for his testimony.