Have you heard new adage “sitting
is new smoking” …
When I heard about it I thought hell
yeah! better I had quit smoking already now I need to quit sitting too? Until I
got diagnosed with chronic back pain couple of years ago. I told my
chiropractor “I am quite fit bloke” how come I got back pain in-spite of
working out and leading an active lifestyle? He mentioned about science of
posture and how human body is meant for hunting in the fields and not sitting
in front of a damn computer whole day long.
Now if this was 1860, I could have done
something about “hunting in the fields” part but in 2017 it is a pretty tough
gig. Specially
living in this civilization makes it even harder to imitate our ancestral modus
operandi.
We might have come from the planet of the
apes but now since we are in the information age let’s see how we can still
quench our postural thirst by staying in “well-being worker” limits. This is
what I suggest as our plan of action to make our work breaks count.
Breaks are good, but do we take
them? Ask
yourself “what makes a good break for me?” taking yourself to local park?
calling a friend? checking into gym? Laugh out loud with colleagues? Or it might be just eating your food
mindfully – which one is your fit ? Find it and use it.
Ensure you drink more than 2 litres
water: Have
you been asked this questions - Do you drink enough water? I am sure you would
know the benefit but it
has an added advantage of
making you
run to toilet pretty often
and also break
the sitting posture cycle for the sake of your bladder.
Get a fitness tracker: A
little bit of technology to help you motivated and stay on track, most of the
trackers can now start to beep (like mine) every 50th minute of an hour asking you to move
your body (I said body…)
Don’t press the send button: At times you’ll catch yourself sending an
email to person sitting at the same floor? Have you done that? I know I have,
why not try the alternate and walk to the person to have a chat.
Catch that yawn: Yawning is actually a signal from your brain
craving for oxygen! That is body’s natural response to initiate a break in
posture. Next time when you catch yourself yawning at work get up and stretch
yourself.
7 min refresher: It
is scientifically proven 7 minutes is what it takes to break your postural
pattern, experiment all the activities you could do in 7 minutes like brushing
your teeth after lunch with an added advantage of dental hygiene.
Power Naps:
There is a misconception, you don’t have to actually sleep merely closing your
eyes and listening to some relaxing music for 10-20 mins would do the job.
In conclusion, it
matters less what you do than why you’re doing it. Pay attention to three
aspects of body, mind and spirit to tune into your own energy style and choose
work break activities that will truly refresh you.
