
Mums and Bubs-Sitting Down Is Not Good
Whether you are a Mum with a bub at home feeding your baby, if you are prenatal or if you are sitting at your office desk, spending long period of times sitting down is not good for our bodies.
According to a study in 2012 about television, for every hour we spend sitting we decrease our life span by 22 minutes.
I always go back to the apes and gorillas who are always swinging from tree to tree, walking around looking at things. And then I think “we were not made to sit down all day”!
Our bodies were not designed to sit in a static sitting position. Mostly when we are sitting, we are sitting with bad posture, with our bodies slumped forward or slumped to one side. This bad posture inevitably leads to chronic lower back pain and knee pain. As we slump forward when sitting, our organs become compressed, making our breathing harder.
Our head also sits in a forward position as we struggle to look at the screen, and this can’t always be corrected with exercise.
As a Mum feeding her Bub, the head is down, the shoulders are forward and the back is slumped.
The issue of our head position is also becoming prevalent as we use our laptops at home where we are not ergonomically set up in the correct position, and also with the prevalence of tablets and smart phones.
So, what should we do?
I encourage my Mums and Bubs clients when they are feeding their babies to try to sit up as tall as possible with shoulders back, and lean forward from the hips and elevate the baby on a pillow. Yes, I know, this is not always possible.
I encourage my office clients to get up from their desk every 45 minutes, or as often as they can. Get up and go to the toilet, grab a drink of water, grab a cup of coffee, go for a quick walk around the office. Just Get Up From Your Chair!
Another option is standing desks. But this may not be possible for everyone.
Consistent exercise is important to prevent such chronic issues – both cardiovascular and strength exercises – and should be gradually be built up.
So, less sitting, more moving. Keep your body in good shape.
Whether you are a Mum with a bub at home feeding your baby, if you are prenatal or if you are sitting at your office desk, spending long period of times sitting down is not good for our bodies.
According to a study in 2012 about television, for every hour we spend sitting we decrease our life span by 22 minutes.
I always go back to the apes and gorillas who are always swinging from tree to tree, walking around looking at things. And then I think “we were not made to sit down all day”!
Our bodies were not designed to sit in a static sitting position. Mostly when we are sitting, we are sitting with bad posture, with our bodies slumped forward or slumped to one side. This bad posture inevitably leads to chronic lower back pain and knee pain. As we slump forward when sitting, our organs become compressed, making our breathing harder.
Our head also sits in a forward position as we struggle to look at the screen, and this can’t always be corrected with exercise.
As a Mum feeding her Bub, the head is down, the shoulders are forward and the back is slumped.
The issue of our head position is also becoming prevalent as we use our laptops at home where we are not ergonomically set up in the correct position, and also with the prevalence of tablets and smart phones.
So, what should we do?
I encourage my Mums and Bubs clients when they are feeding their babies to try to sit up as tall as possible with shoulders back, and lean forward from the hips and elevate the baby on a pillow. Yes, I know, this is not always possible.
I encourage my office clients to get up from their desk every 45 minutes, or as often as they can. Get up and go to the toilet, grab a drink of water, grab a cup of coffee, go for a quick walk around the office. Just Get Up From Your Chair!
Another option is standing desks. But this may not be possible for everyone.
Consistent exercise is important to prevent such chronic issues – both cardiovascular and strength exercises – and should be gradually be built up.
So, less sitting, more moving. Keep your body in good shape.