A colleague of mine attended a conference last week where one of the speakers proclaimed that 'sitting is the new smoking.' She returned invigorated, talking of standing desks and treadmill desks encouraging all of us to talk about how to quit sitting so much.
“Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.”
I was a smoker for 18 years and I'm working on just over 7 years without my trusty Parliaments. I have been sitting professionally for 15 years, but do all the years in a chair during college and school before that count? If they do, I have been on my butt for a long ass time.
Last August I lost feeling in my right arm. I walked around the office shaking it like a mad woman and making my co-workers visibly uncomfortable. Two weeks into being a one-armed woman I was asked if I had seen a doctor. Who has the time to see a doctor? I must sit in front of this screen and compute for eight hours each day, then sit in my car while commuting to get home so I can sit in front of a TV. By the third week I made an appointment with a doctor and learned I had a bulging disk in my neck that was causing nerve damage, which is why I lost feeling in my arm. How did this happen? From sitting. In a crappy chair not made to support my body, in a posture not suited to care for my neck. I got injured doing a desk job. Eye opener.
The following months were filled with physical therapy appointments, strange chicken exercises of my neck, revamping my work station and procuring a new chair. I got a doctor's note that told me I had to break the pattern of sitting every day and exercise for at least 30 minutes in the middle of the day. You mean super type-a, eats at her desk, doesn't make time for small talk, task-oriented me is supposed to stop working and go to the gym? Well I tell you, it changed my life in so many ways.
Image credit to ~ http://www.kelseyads.com/10-ways-sit-less-work-infographic/
It has been nine months since I got the diagnosis and I have been following doctor's orders. A minimum of three days a week I hit the gym mid-day, but mostly it is four or five. I incorporate yoga on the weekends and when it's gardening season, I am working my ass off outside. I am stronger than I have ever been in my life, I make time for small talk with my co-workers and I've reduced my office-related intensity (still eating at my desk though). I am human after all and sitting and computing is not what life is all about.
All these change in my lifestyle have really paid off in managing the pain I was experiencing months ago. I've been operating with both arms since I finished PT so my nerve damage wasn't permanent. My neck still hurts a few times a week, but it is just enough of a reminder to make sure I hit the gym that day or suggest a walking meeting at work.
Smoking never got me in all the years I was crankin' butts, but sitting did. Try taking breaks in your day by making time to walk around the building. Office yoga in ten minute increments with a simple app on your phone is a great way to break from sitting. If you see a co-worker's intensity with their screen compromising their health, encourage them to adjust their posture. In whatever way makes sense for you, be mindful of how much time you spend on your bum and try to find ways to reduce it.