The Problem With Sitting

Sitting is not as all a natural position. Many of our stabilizer muscles that keep us up right get disengaged when we sit, this can also cause atrophy and imbalances. The hip flexors get shorter and tighter. This pulls on the back, making it tighter, and shutting off the abdominals because they’re not able to hold up in that position. Sitting also dramatically affects our blood pressure because the blood is not circulating properly. The lymphatic system, which is responsible for removing extracellular waste and transporting immune cells is not being circulated.

Optimizing Sitting and Standing While Working

Standing is a much better option than sitting because it pretty much reverses the consequences of sitting mentioned above. Standing too much also comes with its own set of problems. While it’s better, it’s much better to be mobile rather than sedentary. Take mobility breaks during any extended period of sitting or standing. Go for a walk, go out in nature, or do short burst exercise. Using a standing desk while working is a good idea. Make sure that the computer is at eye level.

How to Maximize Movement While Working

Movement while working at a desk instead of being sedentary has many benefits including increased focus, memory, and fat loss. There is a technique called the Pomodoro method, which has you work in intervals. An example would be working 1 hour and taking a 15 minute break. You can use what ever intervals that work for you. The key is to be active or rest the mind during the break.

Tips To Stay More Focused During Work

1. Open a window

Opening a window helps with focus do to better oxygen availability. Oxygen is critical for brain function. Also, when we are breathing stale air, we will have less energy because there is much less negative ions, which energize the air. Air circulation creates negative ions. Carbon dioxide levels will rise ff the windows are closed all the time.

2. Use natural lighting

Artificial lights are actually quite hard on our brains. They generally deliver imbalanced light spectrums, and  emit very unnatural amounts of blue light. Use natural light if at all possible. If it’s not, use incandescent bulbs because they are much easier on our brains. They have balanced light spectrums and mimic natural light much more. LED lights generally have abnormal light spectrums. The other thing to consider is flicker rate. LEDs operate digitally using PWM (pulse width modulation), or the lights switching from full intensity, to switching off, over, and over again. This is called flicker. Even know you can’t perceive this happening consciously, your retina does. Research shows that this causes retina damage, and cell death. Incandescent bulbs don’t have these issues.

3. Look far away

Looking at a screen for an extended period of time is not good for our eyes and causes mental stain. On a break look out a window to the farthest thing you can see. Do this for a few minutes until you feel your eyes release.