About a year ago I went to a physiotherapist due to problems with a tendon behind the knee, I did stretching exercises nearly every day for two months, and suddenly it was better. In short one can say that I was tense and very short in the back of the thighs.
The physiotherapist got me to start thinking about a scary thing. How long I sitting down a normal working day. I have been quite physically active large parts of my life, played hockey in the early years and in recent years it has become some weight training and running, and even a few miles on the mountainbike and roadbike. I’ve had a sedentary job in almost 7 years but thought that I work out so it’s probably not that bad anyway. When I told this to my physiotherapist she answered; Yes, great that you train one-two hours several times a week, but what do you do the rest of the day?
And it’s pretty crazy how much I’m sitting down, or standing still.
I live in Stockholm and I need to walk maximum 1500-2000 meters to take me to work. On trams and the subway people fight about a seat. Then they stand in the escalator, because you don’t walk up the stairs. You stand there. It requires a very long queue or broken escalator to go in the regular stairs that usually are nearby. Then, when you been sitting all the way to work, and hoisted up the 10 or so steps then you should sit down to work in 4 hours. Then, when you been sitting down all the way to work, and been raised up the 10 or so steps, you should sit down in order to work for 8 hours. Then you sit down on the way home from work too. Eat some food, then you sit back down in front of the telly. And there you sit, until you go to bed.
We sit on average 12-15 hours a day. That can’t be good for the body.
For a while, when I had the opportunity, I tried to stand in front of the computer and work. But nowadays it is difficult. However, I avoid sitting down on the way to and from work, that makes me sit 45-60 minutes less each day. It’s a start at least.
I’ll try to stand up more while I’m working in front of computer, for a while now and then, and try to gradually increase.
Here are some links on the topic
What Happens When You Stand For 2 Years (very interesting)
How Sitting All Day Is Damaging Your Body and How You Can Counteract It
What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Standing Desks?
Why Sitting Increases Your Risk of Dying Sooner
PS. This is post #11 in my blog challenge 100 posts. See you tomorrow!
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