A great deal of people in their twenties and thirties spend a lot of time sitting. I am fully aware that people did not choose to sit all day, and that it is the nature of our jobs that is to be held responsible for such a lifestyle. However, if you choose to ignore the problems caused by this predominantly sedentary, you can face tons of problems in the future. Here are some of the problems you can experience, and how easy it can be for you to actually prevent them.
1. It affects your health
Biologically speaking, we were not designed to spend so much time sitting, and this position has negative impact on our health. First, your metabolism starts to slow down, due to the fact that your body no longer needs to expend a high amount of energy. Your muscles become inactive, and you are prone to experience muscle spasms. It is also worth mentioning that our appearance will change – e.g. you can develop varicose veins, which are quite noticeable. This kind of inactivity is also likely to cause back-pain problems, which only results in more stress throughout the day. Lastly, sitting can cause an increase in both blood pressure and blood sugar, making you likely to end up with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, or even worse, heart attack.
2. It affects your weight
As mentioned, the metabolism starts to change, and since you are not burning any calories, most of what you eat is transformed into fat. One pound at time, you slowly become more and more obese. This will ultimately result in a future where you are filled with depression, and feel very insecure about yourself. Being obese causes additional health issues, so this reason alone should me more than enough motivation to change your daily habits.
3. It affects your productivity
With insufficient energy production, possible back pain problems and constant stress, our productivity gradually drops. There were studies that revealed how workers who were standing for part of the day at work were actually more productive. Additionally, this kind of arrangement made their back pain and neck pain significantly less severe. Another study showed how standing does not have an impact on productivity itself, but it simply makes the workers feel better, which is why they are more motivated.
Solutions
First of all you need to include more walking, cycling or swimming, along with some morning yoga in your exercise regime. All of these activities will keep your body more active, improve your blood flow, and you’ll burn more calories. All of the exercises mentioned here are used to prevent appearance of varicose veins, which is another positive effect. You should also drink more water, since we all tend to forget to hydrate during the day. This will reduce the number of headaches you have, and you’ll have to go to the bathroom more often, so there is another opportunity for you to stand up and stretch your muscles. Set the alarm on your cell phone to remind you to stand up and stretch for 5 minutes after every hour of sitting.