Do you sit for at least 6-8 hours per day? Does your body feel tired, tense and drained at the end of your day?
Did you know that sitting for 6-8 hours per day is detrimental to your health? Recent research reveals that sedentary behavior causes an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer and pre-mature death.
Try these 3 easy tips to de-stress at your desk:
1. Align Your Spine.
An erect and neutral posture minimizes stress to your spine. Bring your ears, shoulders and hips in the same vertical line. Avoid slouched postures which cause excessive stress on your body and mind. Add a lumbar roll to your low back area to enhance posture and comfort.
2. Expand The Front Of Your Body and Breathe IN Life To The Fullest.
Stand up and bring your hands behind your back. Inhale to extend your upper body backwards as far as comfortable. Take 3 deep diaphragmatic breaths in this position. Notice the “feeling” of expansion. This exercise lengthens the front muscles of your body that tend to contract and tense up throughout the day from sitting for too long. Inhale to move back into the original standing position.
This is an excellent counter pose to sitting. Be very conscious to stay within a comfortable range, especially if you have a history of low back or neck pain and tension. For an excellent DVD of corrective low back exercises link here.
3. “Express Your Stress” Breaths.
Don’t keep it all inside! Take a deep breath IN through your nose. Hold your breath while you notice how your body-mind feels. Exhale the Sound of how your body feels. Do you feel drained, overwhelmed, tired or off-balance? What does that sound like? The more we express how we feel, the more efficiently we are able to release our stress. You see, stress is holding, contraction, freeze… Release is all about expressing, sounding, moving! Try it! Express Your Stress! Raise your arms up and let it go! Notice how you feel after 5 breaths.¬† Lighter? Happier? Freer?
4. Get up and MOVE!
Take a 1-2 minute movement break every 30 minutes. Walk around to get a drink of water. Stand up and do your stretches, shimmy your pelvis and/ or do jumping jacks! It takes 30 minutes of sitting to shift our metabolism into sedentary mode. Set your timer and notice how different and energized you feel at the end of your day. You are so worth it!
5. Gratitude Attitude.
Some of us are unhappy that we “have to” sit all day at work. It is highly recommended to get an adjustable height desk or a standing desk if you can, but if not, I highly recommend the aforementioned exercises and a lot of gratitude attitude. Choose to focus on what you DO have and what you are grateful for. A healthy body, a job, etc. When you appreciate, you lower your stress, elevate your mood and raise your immune system!
Try these 5 tips throughout your day. Comment down below, I LOVE to know how these tips help you! Share them with a friend and make this your best day ever!