Hey You. Yeah you. Aren’t you the one who has been sitting at your computer for the past three hours? Wait, don’t leave just yet. I know you have one more email to return, ten people pestering you for your results, another chart to enter. Keep reading. Your health and ultimately your life are at stake. The word is out in the research and medical community — there are common trends in desk jobs that are slowly accumulating health deficits, silent killers that will sap your quality of life and shorten your time here on earth.
Toss These Desk Habits In The Can
- “My back is killing me. Oh goodness, I’ve been sitting for 3 hours straight!”
- “I’m too drained to exercise”
- Chronic shallow breathing
- Unconscious snacking
- Wolfing down lunch between keystrokes
- Sipping soda, diet or regular
- Sipping water. Wait a minute? Water is good for you so what am I talking about? I’m talking about sipping … sipping doesn’t get enough water into your system. I bet by the end of your hour in hour out marathon you’ve taken in only 8 ounces. Nope. Not good enough.
- Rush rush rush, more more more. Step away from the computer.
Cozy Up To A Timer:
Set a timer to go off every hour. No matter how good your intentions, you cannot depend on memory or habit to trigger you to get up from your desk every hour. When concentrating on projects and to-do lists, your brain suppresses distress signals that come from your body to your brain. In essence, you’re body is knocking but no one’s home to answer the door. After all, you’re concentrating on your project, why be bothered by every nagging sensation from your body? You won’t reach for the water regularly. You probably don’t even feel hungry until your blood sugar has crashed and you’re reaching for the first available calorie. Responding to an hourly alarm will interrupt your stupor long enough for you to respond with the following:
- Get up – move blood flow around your body and lubricate your joints. Walk the hall, do 60 second arm circles, calf raises, wrist, shoulder and neck rolls.
- Slowly breathe in three deep breaths. Doesn’t it feel like you’ve been holding your breath all day?
- Reach for your water bottle. Drink three long drafts.
- Eat a handful of nuts or other healthy snack (avoid sugary snacks)
- Restart your alarm.
You are immersed in a sitting culture, computer age, go go go society. Your wish to remain healthy needs to translate into taking independent action; you can no longer depend on society’s rhythm to take care of your health for you. As a society, we no longer move all day long and spend our days hunting and gathering. We’re privileged in that everything is handed to us. Our modern burden is to know enough about what to take and what to leave behind and when to get up and move. The flip side of suppressing our health and working on just one more task … is to put off our health until it is too late and all we are doing is triage. Live long and live life to it’s fullest.
Learn more:
http://www.sharecare.com/question/can-exercise-prevent-diabetes-metabolic-syndrome
You might want to memorize Myth #5 in this article: http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_150/152b_fitness_tip.html
Discover these common risk factors discovered among diet soda drinkers
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