Sitting and Your Health: What Your Minneapolis Chiropractor Wants You To Know

Have you heard about the sitting epidemic? This is a topic that has been covered a few times in the news in recent years. Experts now say that the amount of time people today spend sitting is having such a negative impact on their health that it could be compared to smoking.

This information isn't easy to digest. When you look at your daily routine, sitting may seem like a necessary part of it. If you work at an office job, what are you realistically supposed to do? And at the end of your long workday, of course, you want to sit down as you relax and unwind. Do these experts really expect you to do jumping jacks while you watch television every evening?

If you're a busy person, with a life that necessitates a lot of sitting, you don't need to radically change your whole life. You can keep the life you have now, while still doing things to improve your health and combat the negative effects of sitting. Here's a few tips from your Minneapolis chiropractor.

1. Take 2 Minute Breaks in Minneapolis

Yes, just two minutes. Either download an app or set the alarms on your phone yourself. Every hour during your workday, have an alarm go off. Then, set a two-minute timer. This is a moment to simply stand up, stretch, or walk around your office a little. Get a fresh glass of water. When you sit back down, this is an opportunity to check your posture and make sure you're sitting up straight before you get back to work.

2. Get a Standing Desk

Investing in a standing desk or a treadmill desk can have a big impact on your health. This doesn't mean you need to use the standing desk all day. You could work at the standing desk for one hour a day and have a huge impact on your health and really cut back on the number of hours you're sitting. This can take a bit of getting used to, but many people find they love it. They feel a bit stronger in their bodies overall with just a bit less sitting. There are now standing desks that are adjustable, so you can move it to the desired position for sitting or standing throughout your day.

3. Make a Habit of Taking a Walk After a Meal

The easiest way to build a new habit is to tie it to one that you already have. Meals are a good way to do this. Choose one of your meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even your mid-day snack) where you can realistically add a ten to thirty-minute walk into your routine after. If you get your protein shake and then walk around the neighboring park every day, this will build some exercise into your daily habits.

4. Visit Your Minneapolis Chiropractor To Discuss Your Health Goals

Are you slouching in your chair all day and experiencing terrible posture? Are you trying to start exercising, but you just don't feel it? Do you want to start working on your health, but your shoulder has been hurting for a while now, and you figure you'll start once that goes away?

These are all common situations people find themselves in. They're all problems that hold people back from reaching better health. While you have heard plenty of times that you are sitting too much during your day and that your health is suffering, it can feel like too much to take that next step to improve.

Building some simple habits into your day will help. So will improving your overall wellness.

When you visit Uptown Chiropractic and have adjustments to your spinal health, you'll feel an improved sense of ease, a better range of motion, and have an easier time moving toward more habits to improve your overall wellness.

Talk to your Minneapolis chiropractor about your health goals. They can work with you to create a care plan that will help you build better habits, better health, and prevent the negative effects so much sitting can have on your sense of wellbeing.