29 Aug Freedom from Unhealthy Habit – Hum Fit to India Fit
Freedom is subjective in every aspect of our life. As we go ahead and make vows to make ourselves fit along with many celebrities on the eve of Independence Day, we need to really identify what is that one unhealthy habit which is taking toll on our body. Identifying that first will help us take further steps towards fitness. What is the definition of unhealthy? Well, anything which is not in coordination with your body is unhealthy. Today, we are going to emphasize on sitting. As per the new norms “Sitting is the new smoking”. Knowingly or unknowingly we sit a lot throughout the day. While commuting in the car or the bus, while at the office, while dining at the restaurant, while at home watching TV and so on.
An average human being spends around 7 hours of sitting during the day which is way above the guidelines specified by World Health Organization.
Sedentary lifestyle has been told to be the root cause of many health related problems. Sitting is considered as bad, but sitting with bad posture makes it even worse. I have seen people in mid 30s having severe back problems. This is primarily due to prolonged and wrong sitting posture.
What can you do about it?
Move every thirty minutes from your place to another place if you are working at the office. Take short breaks in between work so that you have necessary break from prolonged sitting posture. You can also have fitbit telling you to complete 250 steps every hour so that you don’t remain sedentary throughout the day.
Bad sitting posture can be improved by getting a proper ergonomic chair. If that is not possible, see to that your back is straight while sitting and you are not exerting pressure on your tailbone. Generally, prolonged sitting makes us spread our legs on a stool or a chair. This changes the sitting posture exerting pressure on the vertebral column.
If you are working from home, sitting on the floor with back straight helps. Sitting on the floor and getting up every hour for short breaks may also help strengthen the joints. We sit on tables, chairs, sofas, car and most of us have completely forgotten how it is to sit down and get up without holding any object for support. There was a challenge on internet sometime before which prompted many people to get up from floor without any support.
Get a standing desk. This is my absolutely favourite. Getting standing desk is very comfortable solution to prolonged sitting. Get a desk with proper height so that you can effortlessly carry on your workday with it.
Instead of doing all these workarounds it is always better to move often and reduce the risks related to sedentary lifestyle. Freedom from something as unnatural as sitting ( on sofa, in the car, on a chair) is necessary today. We are born to be active and we should be throughout our lives. That is the real definition of freedom for the human body.
This blog post is for the independence blog train by UK and Sarah
Shilpa Bindlish
Posted at 21:29h, 31 AugustMost people including myself have one or the other unhealthy habits and there is no joy bigger than that to be free from such habits.
Paresh Godhwani
Posted at 15:43h, 01 SeptemberYes, we sit a lot during and because of that we gain weight. I have that much information only and your post gave lot of information about what sitting can cause. And thank you for giving tips to avoid those problems.
Mahesh/Datta Joshi
Posted at 11:00h, 03 SeptemberNice.. Information..!
Along with right sitting posture and periodical breaks… It very necessary and important to have physical work out.. Walking.. Brisk walking having ample strides.
Gagan
Posted at 13:13h, 03 SeptemberExcellent article, thanks for information.
admin
Posted at 12:28h, 17 SeptemberMost welcome
Kapila Rattan Bhowmik
Posted at 23:42h, 03 SeptemberThankful to you for sharing this. High time I leave the unhealthy habits
admin
Posted at 12:28h, 17 SeptemberMost welcome.
Gunjan
Posted at 16:09h, 16 SeptemberStanding work desk is my favourite. I too prefer that at times. Moreover I feel I concentrate better when standing 😉
admin
Posted at 12:27h, 17 SeptemberSAme here. I feel I concentrate more as I stand.
Nayantara
Posted at 00:35h, 25 Septembersince I wfh I hardly get any activity. but one thing I’ve started doing is keeping the bottle of water away from my work desk. this way I have to get up every 30 minutes or so to drink water.
admin
Posted at 09:57h, 01 OctoberThats a good thing!! Will help you for sure.
Saba irfan
Posted at 23:26h, 25 SeptemberYes, unhealthy habits have got us called caged
Saba irfan
Posted at 01:05h, 26 SeptemberThese are some really good tips. Will definitely try them out soon