DO N'T FORGET TO STRETCH IN PLACE
For nearly two decades, Shaun Francis, CEO of Medcan (a leading healthcare company in Canada), has worked with numerous doctors and scientists to research ways to help people live longer and healthier lives.
Exercises you can do right at your desk.
In his book, *Eat Well, Exercise Well, Think Smart*, Shaun Francis states: "Long-held experience has suggested that sitting a lot is fine, as long as we engage in physical activity." However, in the late 2010s, new scientific findings refuted this.
Professor Tim Church (Louisiana State University, USA) and his colleagues tracked individuals for 13 years and found a negative correlation between prolonged sitting and lifespan. Subsequent studies have also confirmed that excessive sitting increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.
To combat this, many individuals and even businesses have spent heavily on multi-functional office chairs in the hope of minimizing the harmful effects of prolonged sitting. However, Dr. Andrew Miners, Director of Sports Medicine at Medcan, found: "People who already suffered from neck and lower back pain continued to experience pain after sitting in these expensive multi-functional chairs for a while, because they were sitting for too long."
Therefore, scientists have suggested interrupting prolonged sitting by doing a few minutes of stretching exercises right at your workstation.
For example, to relieve neck and nape pain, you can perform the following movements: 1/ Stand with your back straight; 2/ Wrap your right hand behind your head and place it on your left ear, pulling your head towards your right shoulder and holding for about 10 seconds; 3/ Switch sides and repeat several times.
To relieve neck and back pain, try twisting and stretching your spine with the following movements: 1/ Sit on the edge of a chair, turn your head and torso to the left; 2/ Place your left hand on the back of the chair, your right hand on your left thigh, and tighten your abdominal muscles; 3/ Hold this position for 5-7 breaths, then switch sides and repeat.
If conditions at your workplace permit, every 20 minutes or so you should get up from your chair to stretch and walk around to improve blood circulation.
EXERCISE WHILE SITTING
Sit correctly while working.
For office workers in particular, prolonged sitting reduces joint activity, leading to poor blood circulation, increased risk of osteoporosis, abdominal fat accumulation, varicose veins, etc., you can try the following exercises:
Deep breathing: Inhale deeply, expanding your abdomen to take in more oxygen, then exhale through your mouth to expel carbon dioxide from your body.
Looking into the distance and blinking: You should practice looking into the distance or blinking frequently to maintain eye moisture and prevent dryness and eye strain.
The monitor should be about 50 cm from your body, slightly lower than eye level; the keyboard should be 10-15 cm from the edge of the desk to provide support for your wrists and hands. Your elbows should be bent at approximately a 90-degree angle.
To improve physical health, people need to dedicate time to regular exercise outside of work or study hours. The simplest and most inexpensive way is walking. Walking is also an effective form of exercise for people with cardiovascular disease, helping to improve blood circulation.
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