Thoughtful Thursday: Sitting Around

Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, 

you had bloody well better find some way 

that is going to be interesting. 

And you don't do that 

by sitting around. 

~Katharine Hepburn

It is no secret I have a desk job, but some how my brain has taken a while to totally process this hazardous fact of life. I have worked for the same agency for basically the same office for 8 years. The first 6 have been at desks with ergo chairs and ergo desks. I had access to foot rests, wrist rests, mouse pads with wrist support and risers for my monitors (I am pretty tall). Even with all of this I have had neck and shoulder problems from staring at a monitor for a good portion of my day. My current desk is not ergo and does not accomodate monitor risers. I still have a foot rest, wrist supports and an ergo chair. I have used a couple box type in-boxes to raise my monitors a couple extra inches. I only got wise to that after I needed months of chiropractic rehab for my neck and shoulders. Whine, whine, wah, wah, wah. So what I am really here to complain about, er, uh, talk about it how sitting is quite literally killing me.

People with desk jobs have a higher risk for:

• shorter life expectancy
• cardiovascular disease
• metabolic disorders
• pain related to poor posture
• obesity
• diabetes
• repetitive stress

What completely sucks about this is that even if I did an hour of yoga, ran in the morning before work and after work, nothing makes up for being sedentary for 8 hours a day. I have read lots of articles and basically they suggested getting up every 20 minutes to walk for 10-15 minutes. LOL I am not sure what kind of job allows for 10-15 minute breaks every 20 minutes, but mine sure doesn't. I try to walk over to my staff to talk to them when I can vs. the interoffice messaging system, email or phone. Realistically though, I don't have time to walk over to say something I can do by phone. Multitask. Multitask. Multitask.

So the longevity of my grandparents and family before them, all people who spent most of their day on their feet doing some sort of manual labor is not to be for me. My parents currently spend their days on their feet, laboring away. I am not raising a white flag or anything, but geez, it seems like I have pretty hazardous job, no? So while I  have managed to over come my shoulder and neck issues, I can't seem to shake the hip flexor fall out. They are tight. I get hammy and IT band problems when I run and it is not overuse or too fast too soon. I truly believe it's being in a darn seated pose for nearly 8 hours a day. So I am trying to work in a plan to help reduce some of the loss in flexibility and tension in my pelvis.



A lunge with the knee on the ground, hip thrust forward is a great way to open them up. I have another 5-6 stretches that are supposed to be helpful, some I can even do while sitting in my chair at work if you can believe it LOL What I would like to do is incorporate sun salutations into my daily waking routine. I can even do them at break in my office on days I am not wearing a skirt. I forget, that I have my own private office and can pretty much do these stretches daily without interruption on my breaks.

Do you have a desk job? How do you combat this sedentary disease called a desk job?

Why I Kick A$$: Because I was smart enough to earn a desk job, thanks mom and dad for the hard labor to get me here.

Thankful Three:

1. For feeling like doing something again
2. For friends who sign me up for hydrostatic testing
3. For Super Hubby who is supportive through my fitness, health and wellness ups and downs.