The Negative Effects of Sitting: A Few Easy Ways to Save Your Body

Aired on San Diego CW6 on Monday October 3, 2016 (negative effects of sitting)

Dr. Theresa Larson discussing sitting IS the new smoking and what to do about it.

Did you know 23 hours outside of the gym matter most? More importantly did you know that parachuting is less harmful for your body than the time you spend sitting. Our body is designed to move! Sitting impacts your metabolic system. When you sit for more than 30 minutes at a time, your metabolism starts to drop by 90% For people who sit most of their day, their risk for heart disease is about the same as someone who smokes (resource MD from the Mayo Clinic). Even going to the gym for 1 hour will not reverse the effects of sitting 8 plus hours a day. Globally we sit 7.7 hours to 13 hours a day on average.

Sitting has one of the highest compression loads on our spine, and creates positions that are not ideal for us bio mechanically which end up resulting in back pain, neck pain, other orthopedic problems, risk for heart disease, diabetes …the list goes on.
Ways to Reverse the Effects of Sitting:
1) Move MORE often during the day.
2) Every 25 -30 minutes get up and move for 2-5 minutes, or build yourself a standing work station (lots of great resources online for this). This is good for your brain, and good for your body
3) If you do sit, work on sitting properly- spread those legs, feet flat, and chin gently tucked (working to not overflex or overextend your spine).
4) when you are sitting you can gently squeeze your butt constantly
5) When you stand, think of Captain Morgans Pose, and or swaying your hips side to side (like a hula dancer..why not)!
6) Walk and talk during phone meetings
7) Stand and eat
The list goes on…..basically MOVE and MOVE often!

If you want to add life to your years and reverse the effects of sitting, do what we talked about in the this segment, and if you need some body care, please email us: getbetter@movement-rx.com, Upon your first visit you will get a FREE mobility tool to help your glutes to stay active all day long. Just mention this SD 6 Segment!