Even if you have not heard the word “pandemic attitude“yet there is a good chance you can feel its effects. After all, a whole year of lockdowns, mass closure of the gym, commuting to and from the bedroom and dining room, and the accumulated effects of limited movement on an unprecedented scale has undoubtedly strained all our bodies.
According to a new article in Glamor, “Pandemic attitude” is a secondary “epidemic” that has arisen from the fact that we all work from home. It is essentially defined as dragging oneself in front of our computers with rounded shoulders “in dining room chairs that would make chiropractors scream.” If this sounds familiar, take note.
“Pandemic posture can also put excessive pressure on the spine, causing nerve damage, strained muscles and weakness in the lower back,” Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD, a New York-based back and orthopedic surgeon, explained to the newspaper.
This poor sitting position also increases the stiffness and pain in your hips. “A bent back can also cause poor circulation. This affects the oxygen supply and can lead to blood clots and high blood pressure,” Okubadejo further explained. “The long-term effects of pandemic posture include, but are not limited to, arthritis, circulatory problems, temporomandibular joint syndrome, fatigue, headaches, and mild to moderate depression.”
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The report also states that you can not just fight back from a pandemic stance by trying to train hard on the weekends. “There are a lot of people who will be sitting around all week, and then this weekend they want to be training warriors,” Ileana Piña, a doctor and professor of medicine at Wayne State University and Central Michigan University, told Glamor. “It’s the total activity that matters.”
When you sit too much every day, the side effects include everything from weight gain to muscle pain to poor sleep to an even greater risk of heart disease along the way. It also affects your mind. According to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and published in the United States International Journal of Obesity, you will hurt your attention and make yourself much more vulnerable to distraction.
According to health experts at Yale Medicine, it is important that you have an ergonomically correct desktop set. To begin with, your computer monitor should be at eye level so that you do not look down and add the extra strain on your neck. You should sit with your feet flat on the floor and your arms and legs should remain at 90 degrees. If you are not so lucky that you have a perfect office chair with lumbar support, “you can just roll up a small towel and place it along the” small “in the lower back when you sit for comfort.”
Read on for a few more ways to make sure you move a little more and do not cause permanent damage to your body. And for more ways to get faster, do not miss this list 50 fantastic workouts you can do in five minutes.
If you feel like using a standing desk, fine. If not, just sit on a yoga ball. As Jill Koegel, RD, a sports-certified dietitian, once explained to us, sitting on an exercise ball can burn another 100 calories a day.
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Squats are one of the best exercises available – you can do them anywhere without any equipment, and they use your body’s single largest muscle group, making them hugely effective. “Squats are good for toning the thighs and changing,” Tone It Up founders Karena Dawn and Katrina Scott explained to us. “Just make sure your feet are apart from your hips and your knees do not go past your toes during the entire movement. This will help prevent injuries.” And for more effective training tips you can use, see our summary of easy ways to start losing weight immediately, experts say.
“A great way to more easily burn more fat throughout the day is to increase your metabolism at short intervals at different times of the day,” says Alicia Filley, PT, a physiotherapist and founder of The healthy hiker. “It’s easy to do this all day without doing any formal exercise.”
She recommends that you take the stairs wherever you go – whether it is at work or in a parking garage while you are out doing errands – and if you stay at home, go up the stairs there. “Doing this several times a day bumps up your heart rate and makes you burn more calories,” she says.
A quick 20-minute walk should take you the distance of about a mile and require you to take anywhere in the kingdom with 2000 and 3000 steps. It can burn up to 110 calories. A major study published in 2015 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a 20-minute walk every day (again, it should be a quick walk) can reduce the risk of death by 30%. According to research by the University of Georgia and published in the journal Psychotherapy and psychosomaticsGoing for a 20-minute walk just three days a week for six weeks can result in 20% more energy levels and less fatigue. For better exercise advice, make sure you are aware of the best way to exercise every day, according to psychologists.
