Sitting is detrimental to your health in many ways. When sitting, your hamstrings and gluteal muscles shut down, your hip flexors to become tight, and it places 40-60% increased weight on your spine compared to standing. Along with this, studies have also shown that many of your internal organs are less functional when sitting.
Many people sit for most of their day at work, but there are many ways to get around sitting all day at work. Whether it be switching to a standing desk, standing when you are on your phone and don’t need to be at a computer, or just getting up to walk around every 20-30 minutes, you are able to get off your chair and stand up and move.
When traveling, standing is not as much of an option. Traveling is very common today for many people, whether it be the frequent business traveler or the infrequent vacation traveler. Luckily there are still some things you can do when traveling to try to sit in as good of posture as possible.
- Sit with legs apart or ankles crossed. On a packed flight, this may not be the easiest to do. But when possible, try to spread your knees apart. This position helps to brace your pelvis slightly, allowing your spine to get into a better, more stable position.
- Sit with legs crossed. With one leg crossed in a figure-four position, one side of your pelvis is braced more than the other. Not an ideal situation necessarily, but one side braced is better than neither side braced. Switch sides occasionally to brace both sides.
- Move frequently. If your body is getting sore and you are getting fidgety, it is because your body is meant to move. Don’t fight the need to move!
- Stand up if able. If you are on a road trip, stop and get out every hour to stand and walk around. If you are on a flight, as long as the flight is smooth and the fasten seat belt sign is off, stand up in the aisle for a couple minutes every 20-30 minutes.
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