Neck & Back Pain, Fatigue & Weight Gain? What’s Wrong With My Body?
The latest study of the British Medical Research Journal found that sitting for more than 3 hours a day, even with no bad habits such as smoking, you could still potentially reduce your life expectancy by 2 years!Prof. Brett P. Giroir and his team in the United States also found that sedentary sitting greatly increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, and fatty liver. At the same time, the premature death rate of sedentary people increases by 10%.
"Sedentary people such as IT technicians, teachers, office staff and other office workers who need to sit in front of the computer for a long period of time are more likely to experience tightness on the neck and back, feel fatigue everyday after work, have lower energy and poor sleeping quality.
If you are experiencing these symptoms, please do not wait or ignore them! Staying inactive for a long time can easily cause cervical spondylosis, gastrointestinal disease, cardiovascular disease, etc., and you should actively treat and prevent it. In this article, you will learn simple yet effective ways to address this issue."
What are the potential health issues faced by sitting all day?
Harmful for Your Neck and Lower Back
Sitting (posture) puts more pressure on your spine than standing!
When sitting, your back muscles are stretched at the back of the pelvis. Over time, it will affect the health of your back and cause back pain. It can also cause various spondylopathies, the most common are bowed back and bone hyperplasia.
Sitting in front of the computer for a long time, your head and neck are stretched forward tightly, causing weakness in the back muscles. Overtime can cause your spine to form into a chest-bearing posture, and develop a bulging neck tissue at the back of the neck.
Hollywood superstar Audrey Hepburn showed us the best and most gracious figure by maintaining a healthy spine and correct postures. She always stood straight. The beautifully curved neck is especially eye-catching. Don’t let bad postures ruin your appearance, let alone health!
Under normal circumstances, the cervical spine has a physiological curve, but people who have been sitting for a long time will find that their cervical spine physiological curve disappears, becomes straight, and in some cases become kyphosis, this is why they often feel the cervical spinal discomforts.
The human spine is composed of 33 vertebrae (7 cervical vertebrae, 12 thoracic vertebrae, 5 lumbar vertebrae, 5 sacrums, and 4 coccyges) connected by ligaments, joints, and intervertebral discs.
The upper end of the spine supports the skull, connects the hip bones with the ribs in the middle, and serves as the posterior wall of the thorax, abdomen, and pelvis. The spine has the functions of supporting the body, protecting the internal organs, protecting the spinal cord, and performing exercise.
The spine forms a longitudinal spinal canal from top to bottom with the spinal cord inside. Maintaining a strong and healthy spine is very important to your overall health. Practicing cervical spine stretching and triple focus stretching can not only massage the internal organs but also stretch and release the meridians of the entire body.
Hips and Leg Deformation, and Kidney Disfunction
When our legs do not move for a long time from sitting, the blood flow in the body decreases/ slows down. After a long while, it may cause varicose veins of the lower extremities and even thrombosis of the veins of the lower extremities.
Sitting for a long time is not only bad for your figures, but also compresses the bladder meridian and resulting in abnormal kidney function.
Setting with correct postures can help you maintain a healthy and straight back, avoid back and neck pain, and away from health problems. And of course, it’s always best for your health to get up and move a little every so often during your day. Remember, when it comes to your spinal health, standing is better than sitting!
Negative Effect to the Brain
Sitting for a long time will cause the blood circulation to slow down, and lead to the insufficient blood supply to the brain, create brain damage, mental depression, physical fatigue, and listlessness.
How to avoid spinal injury? The answer is: “Breaking up Prolonged Sitting Time”.
You should break your sitting every hour and do some simple and effective spinal health exercises.
And after work, try to take part in aerobic exercises suitable for your body, such as Meridian Yoga & Taichi to dredge the meridians, jogging and walking, swimming, etc. Be sure to avoid exhaustive exercises that exceed your body’s capability.
Spine Health Exercise - 5 minutes a day to maintain a healthy spine!
Neck, Back Meridians Stretch w/ Dr. Li
(1) Feet stand apart with shoulder-width, shoulders should be relaxed and lowered, the lower abdomen should be retracted, middle finger should be exerted, and extended downward.
Move the head forward and drive the cervical spine and chin forward, and then down, so that the chin can touch the two clavicles, and the head returns to the center.
Then the head moved back and extended back in a controlled manner.
Finally, the head returned to the center. Move the head back and forth 3 times to stretch the cervical spine C123 in the anteroposterior direction.
(2) Move the head toward the left shoulder, make the left ear close to the left shoulder, keep the shoulder sinking, raise the left arm, point the left hand to the sky and stretch, and extend the right hand forcefully downwards, so that the body stretches upward and downward (Two-dimensional Stretch ).
Place the left palm on the right ear, and press the head from shallow to deep to the left ear until you feel the soreness of Gaohuang acupoint (in the middle of the scapula). The skilled person can feel the right shoulder blade until the meridian of the right middle finger is soothing. The same movement left and right two times each.
This exercise can reduce the pressure on the spine of the neck and keep the meridians on the back unobstructed, so as to avoid stiff neck and back pain caused by prolonged sitting.
Triple Focal Stretch w/ Dr. Li
Upper-focal Point Stretching: The upper focal point refers to the chest, including the heart and lungs. Pull your abdomen in, extend your shoulders down, and relax your hands.
Then let the shoulder blades make a big reincarnation: raise your shoulders when you breathe in, relax your hands and hang them freely on your shoulders as if they don’t belong to you, and extend your shoulders back and down when you breathe out.
Relax your hands when you breathe in, and your body returns to the center. When you breathe out, your shoulders to your chest (i.e., the upper focus) will move inward. At this point, a large cycle of the shoulder blades is completed, and the shoulders are as if they are embraced, and the cycle is carried out 6 times in this way.
Middle-focal Point Stretching: Zhongjiao refers to the epigastric cavity of the stomach, which mainly refers to the upper abdomen, including the spleen, stomach, liver, and gallbladder.
Tuck your abdomen, raise your shoulders when you inhale, relax your hands as if you don’t belong to yourself, hang your shoulders freely, and extend your shoulders back and down when you exhale.
Relax your hands when you breathe in, and your body returns to the center. When you breathe out, your shoulders to the middle of the stomach (ie, the middle focus) will be contained. Do this for 6 rounds.
Lower-focal Point Stretching: XiaJiao refers to the lower abdomen, including the kidney, bladder, small intestine, and large intestine. Retract your abdomen, lift your shoulders when you inhale, relax your hands, and extend your shoulders backward and downward when you exhale.
Relax your hands when you breathe in and return your body to the center. When exhaling, the pelvis is sent forward, and the shoulders to the pelvis (that is, the lower focal point) are contained, and the entire spine of the human body bends like a large shrimp. Do this for 6 rounds.
Spine Relaxation w/ Dr. Li
Feet and knees are shoulder-width apart, knees are tightened (lifted) when inhaling, knees are relaxed when exhaling, and 10 toes grab the ground. The tip of the tongue is against the upper jaw, the abdomen is retracted, and the tail vertebra retracts. Combined with the Great Zhoutian breathing method, inhale from the nose, exhale from the mouth, and slowly close your eyes. Beginners should understand how to lift and put the knees, and how to grasp the ground with 10 toes.
When inhaling, lift your palms upwards, slowly extend to the sky, empty the Yongquan Cave, and lift the front and back Yin. When exhaling, press your palms together and squeeze back to your chest, and your body sinks and relaxes.
Cycle (2) 5 times.
Open your hands, pass the cheeks, and then come to the chest, viscera, lungs, diaphragm, stomach, pubic region, large intestine, small intestine, and finally abdominal groove. Keep your back straight and stretch your hands to the ground. Come to the ground with your knees shoulder-width apart, open your palms, and place your arms straight under your shoulders to form a table top. The cervical, thoracic, and tail vertebrae are on the same plane.
When exhaling, the cervical spine and tail vertebra are contained in the head and tail. When inhaling, the waist relaxes and collapses; the head and tail are upturned, and the cervical and tail vertebrae are in the opposite direction and extend upward.
After looping (5) 5 times, relax and return to the table top position of Zhongzheng, that is, the cervical vertebrae, thoracic vertebrae, and tail vertebrae are on the same plane.
With both knees together, push the upper body back with your hands, push the tail vertebrae to the heels, use the tail vertebra 360 to rotate and make a circle, go up (forward), left, back, right, and circle 6 times . Make a circle in the opposite direction 6 times. Return to the table top position.
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