Get Out of the Sitting Cycle with Ergonomics

As the dangers of spending too much time sitting become increasingly apparent, it's worth taking stock of just how much time the average person spends sitting on the average day. It's easy to focus on the 8 hours per day spent sitting at work, but that's really just one part of the equation. As this excellent blog post from Owaves.com makes clear, the average person can find themselves trapped in a cycle of sitting. Think of how much time you spend sitting. Most of us wake up, sit down in a car to drive to work, then spend 8 hours seated at our desk. When that's over, we sit back down in the car to drive home...so that we can sit in front of the TV or curl up with a good book on the couch. In total, counting work, commuting, eating, and resting, we can find ourselves spending 10-14 hours per day seated and the inactivity is wreaking havoc on our bodies.

While sitting is comfortable, it isn't a natural human behavior. Early humans would actually squat and crouch, rather than sit. Over time, however, as chairs came into existence and leisure time grew, sitting took over greater and greater amounts of our time. Today, many jobs consist mainly of sitting at a desk all day. However, our bodies simply aren't meant to spend that much time without any activity. Lack of physical activity can lead to chronic diseases ranging from heart disease to obesity to diabetes.

Since computers and cars are here to stay, the key is to find ways to fit activity and movement around our existing lifestyles. In my case, for example, I try to bike to work every morning. As much as I love near-death experiences with 2-ton automobiles, that actually isn't my primary motivator for this. Instead, I realized a while a while ago how much better I felt incorporating movement into my daily routine. Once I got to try the UPLIFT Sit-Stand Ergonomic Desk and get used to standing and moving while I worked, I felt even better.

There's a whole range of options for introducing movement into your life. From a treadmill desk to an active sitting option like the Swopper, there's a number of creative routes out of the sitting cycle. Even something like the brand new Focal Mogo Stool can help you ease your way into standing more often and introducing a higher level of activity to your daily routine.

Shake up your daily routine and get out of the sitting cycle with TheHumanSolution.com.

Related Reads

• Standing Desks: Then and Now
• Martin Keen of Focal Upright Furniture Visits Human Solution