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Spine Health

Amazing Tips to Help You Sit Smarter

According to the Los Angeles Spine Surgeon, sitting around all day can be extremely bad for you. In fact, evidence shows that each moment you spend sitting can reduce your life span proportionately.

A man sitting on an exercise ball at a desk while typing on a tablet

According to the Los Angeles Spine Surgeon, sitting around all day can be extremely bad for you. In fact, evidence shows that each moment you spend sitting can reduce your life span proportionately. Conversely, by reducing the time you spend sitting can have the opposite effect. For that reason, we have compiled a list of tips to help combat the adverse effects of sitting. Seeing as how so many Americans spend a great portion of their lives sitting, this article is a must-read.

Research suggests that by reducing the amount of time you spend sitting per day, you can increase your life expectancy.

For instance, if you can reduce the amount of time you spend sitting to less than three hours a day, you can add 2 years of life to your expected lifespan.

Further research suggests that after the age of 25, every hour you spend sitting reduces your life expectancy by 20 minutes. To give it some perspective, it is similar to the ratio of smoking a cigarette to years of living. Each cigarette reduces your life, on average, about 11 minutes. So, an hour of sitting is worse than smoking a cigarette, in terms of adverse effects on health. Overall, by sitting too much, a person is taking years off of their life.

Better Ways to Sit:

There is overwhelming evidence that shows that prolonged sitting can be severely detrimental to your health. There are literally thousands of studies showing the adverse effects of too much sitting. There are many doctors who advocate for standing at your work station and even doing light exercises while working. Physicians have compiled a regiment of “desk exercises” that one should do to counteract the effects of sitting. It was previously recommended that every 15 minutes, one should get up and do a short exercise and stretch routine, however, upon further analysis, it is shown that rather than waiting for the 15 minute interval, one should simply stand as often as one is able to.

Stack Sitting:

If standing is not an option, we have a different approach that can save your spine much aggravation. Too much sitting can be detrimental to your back. We have a specific posture that can save your spine a lot of wear and tear. The position includes sticking your bottom out when you sit; not exaggeratedly so, but enough that it is sticking out from your spine. At that point, take long, prolonged breaths, which will give your spine more oxygen. The added oxygen will help your back and internal organs adjust themselves.

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