Are You Sitting Too Much?

sitting too much

“Are you sitting too much?” If so, you may want to know that it is the # 1 reason for chronic pain. By now you may have heard about the  “sitting is the new smoking” research that has been done. Dr. Joan Vernikos is the former director of NASA’s Life Sciences Division and author of Sitting Kills, Moving Heals. In her book, she scientifically explains why sitting has such a dramatic impact on your health. She goes on to explain the key to reversing the damage of sedentary living. I talk about gravity being our friend with doing my four easy movements. Dr Vernikos also believes through her research that we need to put gravity back into our lives through frequent actions that resist the force of gravity throughout the day, every day. My eBook “30 Intentions for 30 Days” is all about that. This blog is about the negative impact that you may know as pain.

I am actually standing right now as I type this.  But I don’t just stand. I move around a lot and do stretches to wake up the muscles that have tightened. Click below to see exercises to counteract sitting too much.

There are 4 major causes of misalignment:

Sitting

Injuries

Repetitive Stress

Dominant Sports

Back to sitting. Or should I say BACK to PAIN from too much sitting.

Our intrinsic muscles are attached in a very specific, strategic way in order to hold our frame in an optimal orthogonal (right angle) position. I talked about this in my blog called Symmetry and Laughter.  When we sit, our bodies are in a flexed position. We were made to sit but not for long periods of time.

There are three planes of motion that our bodies move in. When we sit we shut off two of these. I explain more about the planes during my free mini- consultation session.

NASA did a study that validated this conclusion comparing sitting to that of being weightless in space. They found that it only takes up to 72 hours to start negatively affecting the anti-gravitational (intrinsic) muscles.

So too much sitting creates incorrect patterning. Did you know that it takes between 3,000 to 5,000 repetitions to undo bad motor patterns? WHAT?

Weight-bearing movements and the adjustments you make shifting from side to side while standing has a whole series of physiological benefits to the musculature, the balance in musculature, the visual cortex, and also improves brain function, structure, and connectivity.

Alan Hedge, a Design and Ergonomics professor at Cornell University, suggested a slightly different approach from just standing in the Boston Globe: “Sit for no more than 20 minutes at a time and stand in one position for no more than 8 minutes. You should also take a two-minute moving break at least twice an hour to stretch or walk around.”

Can we undo the bad patterns? Of course and it is all within your power to do this. With Symmetry (And my Body-Re-Design Program) I can teach you the tools to retrain your body to remember how good you can feel.

For a postural realignment program begin by downloading my 4 Easy Movements. Then set up an appointment for a free min-consult to find out more about Body Re-Design for reducing or getting out of pain. There is no obligation, only information and a time to answer your questions.

Wishing you a pain free life!

Jacque

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