Most of us have work that requires long hours at a computer. Given the present state of society, it is important for us to schedule our physical activity. Failing to schedule it can lead us into the category of "sedentary."
Prior to the technological advancements of today, it was easy to be active because life required activity to function. However, today it is easy to find ourselves barely leaving our chairs. Even if we work out regularly and spend an hour training every day, sitting the rest of the day may not cut it.
Sitting for long hours, we put a lot of strain on our lower backs, weaken our glutes (do you feel them expanding as you sit there?), and tighten our chests, shoulders, and the front of our hips, forcing our head forward and our shoulders to slump! Ahhh! Attack of the computer age!
Along with our technological advancements, people in North American culture put more emphasis on an intelligent mind (and the bank book), and less value is given to our physical well-being and our ways of carrying ourselves. In the 50s and 60s, gym-goers were primarily men who were athletes, yet women at that time knew how to carry themselves and how to look refined and elegant.
I was pleasantly surprised, almost shocked actually, when I was offering my grandmother some tips on her body after she complained of chronic back pain. She is in her mid-80s and leads a pretty sedentary lifestyle. If she were to fall down, as she has, she does not have the strength to get back up, and if you asked her to sit on the floor or a low stool, she would refuse from fear of not being able to get back up.
However, when I taught her to stand tall, she was immediately able to do so. Despite her weak muscles and bones, her body remembered how to stand properly aligned. This often takes me weeks to teach my clients in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. They must learn how to straighten their alignment, despite their regular workouts and physical abilities. I am guessing this is because posture has no longer been emphasized in the past few decades.
When we stand poorly, our muscular structure becomes imbalanced, making it harder to properly perform daily tasks, and this leads to a whole lot of PAIN. Nearly 80 percent of all adults have reported low back pain, and 80,000 to 100,000 knee injuries have been reported annually in the United States. Seventy percent of those knee injuries were a result of non-contact slips that happened during regular daily activities (like stair climbing or walking on slippery pavement).
In ancient China, people were taught to pay attention to their posture and regulate their breathing and mental state before starting their work, whether in art, writing, medicine, or even domestic work. Although society is set up differently today, we can begin to counteract the detrimental effects of chronic sitting and slouching by taking short breaks (even as short as 30 seconds) throughout our workday.
The following is a list of possible exercises to perform during our 30-second breathers:
1: Stand up and align your ears over shoulders, shoulders over hips, and hips over ankles. Use 20 percent of your strength to pull your navel to your spine.
2: Inhale and exhale slowly.
3: Stretch the fronts of your thighs by grabbing your ankle behind you and holding the stretch for a few breaths.
4: Bend to each side stretching your waist.
5: Clasp hands behind your back and stretch your chest and bend forward to stretch the backs of your legs.
Do this every hour and notice if you feel differently by the end of the day!
Tysan Lerner is a certified personal trainer and a Pilates and yoga teacher.
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