Lockdown life and "the seating disease"!
It’s been a few weeks since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and we were confined to the comforts of our own homes. Whilst it may have seemed like a temporary measure, I think it is time to accept that this might be the new reality for the foreseeable.
“Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.”
This is the ominous warning from Dr. James Levine, director of Mayo Clinic. This statement was made back in 2014 and the way our lifestyles have progressed, we only became more sedentary. I have been deep diving into this subject because some healthcare professionals label this a “seating disease”. It is currently one of the biggest health issues in the world. This sounds scary and all but here’s something that is even more worrying.
We, as a population, were severely sedentary prior to the pandemic. Average day of a professional might have looked like this:
- Get up, make breakfast, get ready for work and leave for work
- Commute – public transport/car, or in a more ideal scenario – walk/cycle
- Office time 7-12h of sitting in front of a screen with a lunchbreak
- Commute home
- Gym/yoga/workout (30-60min)
- Home – dinner, down time, sleep
Now – that to some may look like an “active” day but according to WHO, only 31.3% of adults used to get enough physical activity!
How does this relate to the current state of affairs? Many people are working from home – this eliminates the commute and walking about, increasing the time in front of screens and in a seated position. Gyms are closed and most people opt for random online workouts that make them jump about to burn some kcal (for more on why that’s just simply wrong: https://www.bnmtherapy.com/articles/why-most-of-online-training-sucks-and-what-i-can-do-to-help).
Due to unforeseen circumstances, we’ve gone from sedentary to … I’m not even sure what to call it. Some movement that we used to get has been replaced with chaotic, jump up and down-style workouts. Moving around and carrying out different duties throughout the day has been replaced with a once-per-day walk. A day consisting of sitting down, getting up and walking in straight lines. This is starting to have effect on many necks, shoulders, backs, hips and knees.
What can you do to reduce the damage?
- With less movement, you burn less fuel. You are more likely to gain weight. Introduce a way of tracking your intake. Don’t know how? Read on, more details below.
- Get your daily walk. Adhere to the safety guidelines and get outside, walk around.
- Train – gyms are great because all the weights provide an easy way to challenge your muscles. Here’s the news though – your muscles don’t care about the weight lifted. All your muscles need is a stimulus and there are many ways to stimulate/train muscles.
- Recover/mobility. Even more so now than ever, you need to make sure your joints are getting movement. A simple mobility routine done daily can prevent future aches and pain. Subscribe to the newsletter to get our free mobility routine!
Do you know where to start? No? Great.
We’re here to help. We are currently taking booking for consultations where we can assess your current fitness level and build a custom plan based on your profession, lifestyle, training history, family history, nutritional preferences and hobbies.
All you need to do is get in touch and either Sophie or Jake will be in touch to arrange your consultation.