4 STEPS TO OFFSET THE DAMAGE
Simple daily steps to help you battle the scourge of significant sitting
1 SIT LESS
Replace at least two hours of sitting a day with movement breaks. ‘Little breaks don’t seem like much, but they add up,’ says Alter. Two hours spread over the 16 or so hours you’re awake is only 7.5 minutes an hour. This simple trade was associated with an 11 per cent lower body mass index (BMI), 14 per cent lower triglycerides, higher ‘good’ HDL cholesterol, a trimmer waist and better glucose control, found a study in the European Heart Journal. An easy way to remind yourself is to set your mobile phone timer to alert you every hour to stand up and move around.
2 EXERCISE MORE
You should be getting at least the recommended 150 minutes per week, but increase it to an hour a day if you can – a major study published in The Lancet that analysed data from more than one million adults found that 60-75 minutes of moderate cardio work per day seemed to wipe out the increased risk of premature death that is associated with lots of sitting.
At work
Sit up straight, using your muscles (not the chair) for support. Your lumbar spine should be slightly arched.
• Look ahead. Move your monitor to eye level and don’t lean in.
• Keep your feet flat, knees lower than your hips. If you need to, adjust your chair.
• Hold your shoulders back and down, elbows at 90 degrees, hands on desk.
In the car
Scoot your seat up so you don’t need to reach far for the wheel.
• Sit upright, shoulders down and back resting against the seat. Adjust lumbar support to avoid slouching.
• Tuck in your chin slightly. This keeps your head neutral.
• Adjust your seat height. Your knees should be slightly bent and lower than your hips.
4
LOOSEN YOUR HIPS
Hip flexors get tight when you sit incorrectly, says orthopaedic physical therapist David Reavy. This decreases activity in your abs and bum, leaving you more prone to injury when you run. And when you get injured? You sit more. Do this loosener move every day.
Lie on your stomach and place a firm ball (the size of a tennis ball) just inside your front hip bone. Put your weight on the ball, supporting yourself on your forearms. Bend one leg and move it from side to side, then bend and
straighten your knee (as shown) to fire your glutes, which releases the hip flexor. Roll a few inches to another position on the ball and repeat to release another part of the muscle. Switch sides. Do after work or before a workout.