Don't sit for too long!
Sitting is one of our main activities. Or rather, one of our main inactivities!
More and more people are doing more of it, thanks to the increasingly sedentary lifestyle that comes with advances in electronics and computing. Nowadays it is not even necessary for people to travel to work, since many jobs can be done in the comfort of one's own home.
One can communicate instantly with people virtually anywhere in the world all from your chair. You may be interested to know that more than half of the population sit for over 70 per cent of their waking life. One questions whether that is good for one's general health, and more specifically for one's spine?
Well the answer is no to both parts of that question. When you are sitting you are not challenging your system physiologically. You are putting your body into a position that does not permit for efficient breathing, for one thing. You don't move your chest to inflate the rib cage and the position of sittingmeans that you don't use your diaphragm as much as you could.
That is partly why one can feel tired just from long periods of sitting.
You are also not using your muscles, in particular, your soleus muscle.
Situated deep in the calf of each leg, it has a very important function, referred to as the 'soleus pump' in returning blood to the heart. In order to achieve this function you have to be walking about.
This pumps blood back to the heart more effectively. When it is not in operation, there is a tendency for fluid to come out of the circulation and to collect in the dependent soft tissues to produce swelling of the feet and ankles. You will notice this particularly on long air travel journeys, and this lack of soleus pump is part of the cause.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Wakefield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
