Mobility vs. Activity At The Office
Active offices and related ergonomic products are certainly trending these days. But the larger issue might be your mobility, rather than your activity level. Mobility refers to how functionally we move (or, how we don’t), and plays a huge roll in long term health.
Sitting Is The New Smoking
This is probably not the first time you’ve heard that headline. Everyone is encouraged to move more throughout the day to avoid developing “sitting disease.” If you can sneak in a few deskercises here and there throughout the day, that’s great! But what about those days when you have trouble stepping away from the desk. Or, maybe you’re stuck on long conference calls most of the day. It seems like we sit during all of our waking hours….at work, in the car, at dinner, and then on the couch.
The fact is, our culture involves a lot of sitting.
While we can make conscious efforts to move and take breaks, there are more things you can do to counter the effects of desk-life by working on your mobility.
Sit Properly
It may seem counter-productive to discuss sitting, we are bound to spend at least part of our day doing so. It would be beneficial to learn how to do it correctly to limit the damage. When you find yourself sitting, run through this checklist:
- Are your feet on the ground and not dangling?
- Roll your shoulders back
- Sit up tall
- Breathe deeply into your belly, not just your chest
Try Squatting
Standing desks are a great way to add variety to your life work, but if you’re looking for something new, try squatting! Squatting is one of the best exercises for mobility and health. If you can’t hold a deep, flat footed squat, you’ll need to work up to this. Start with daily air squats or wall sits until you become more comfortable in this position. From there, you can work for a couple of minutes in a squat position and slowly build to longer stretches.
Even sitting properly is an important part of functional movement. Be conscious of this during your long stretches at a desk. If you’re able, work on alternative positions like squatting. You’ll notice a huge difference in how your body feels at the end of the day!
