Sitting is now the new smoking.
Cardiologists put the risk of heart attack for people who sit too long at the same rate as smokers.
Most of us sit way too much and too long. There’s no way around it, sitting is bad for your health even the American Medical Association agrees. We are not going to be reminding you of the dangers sitting too long poses to your health. Instead, we will be focusing on how to minimize your chances of battling with sitting diseases either now or in the future.
You don’t know the sitting diseases? Obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression are at the top of the ladder.
The truth is that we cannot avoid not sitting down. Often, we forget ourselves in that relaxing position.
A good part of the sitting occurs at work, which is why our ideas will be focused on the workplace.
Remind Yourself To Stand Up, With An Alarm
Sitting is an unconscious habit; we find ourselves doing it absentmindedly. While at work, you should schedule your alarm to remind you to stand up from your desk at least once every hour.
We’ll recommend standing up after every 45 to 50 minutes of sitting down. You’ll not remember to do this, and this is where the alarm comes into the picture. Standing up could be to pace around, grab a drink, stretch your muscles, or anything.
The idea is to leave your desk not less than once every hour.
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Schedule a Walking or Standing Meeting
If you are a team leader, you can suggest to your team to either have your team meeting while walking or while standing. If it’s a one on one session, ask the partner to walk with you.
If it’s a standing meeting, you’ll need a bar height table to place your writing pads, smartphone, and laptop PC. Rather than make use of the office conference room, the office kitchen could be the place to have your meeting.
Having a meeting while walking or standing could help to tackle difficult topics. Rather than staring at each other, you will be walking side by side.
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Ditch Your Desk, For a Standing Desk
This might look stressful or energy-sapping, but you’ll thank yourself for this later. If your office has an arrangement for a standing desk, take advantage of it. There are also desk additions that adjust your screen and keyboard to a standing position.
This means you can sit for a while and also stand for the rest of the hour while working. If all of this isn’t available, try setting a goal to stand up whenever you have to save a document or send an email.
Which means you can find yourself standing multiple times during the working hour.
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Visit The Office Gym Atleast Once a Day
Being fit and healthy contributes a lot to your productivity.
If your office has an in house gym, it should be your second office. It does not have to be a sweaty session. Spending 25 minutes on the treadmill daily won’t require you to take a shower.
You can also bring in a pace counter and set a target to hit 10,000 steps a day. This will help you to get up more often than you would have.
Final Thoughts
There are numerous other options to explore to sit less. You could take the stairs either on your way to the office or out of the office rather than the elevator.
Whenever you are on the phone, you should also pace around. Lastly, refill your water glass every hour, you’ll walk more as you’ll need to visit the toilet often.
