2564: How to Get More Movement Into Your Workday - Exercising & Avoiding a Sedentary Lifestyle at Work

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[00:00:54] It's another Q&A edition of Optimal Health Daily, Episode 2564.

[00:00:58] And I'm Dr. Neal Malik.

[00:01:00] Hey there, happy Friday and welcome to another Q&A edition of Optimal Health Daily,

[00:01:06] where I answer your health questions related to fitness, diet and nutrition, and more.

[00:01:11] You send in the questions and I answer them for you.

[00:01:14] And with that, let's jump right in and hear today's question as we optimize your life.

[00:01:23] Today's question came via email.

[00:01:25] Janelle writes,

[00:01:27] Hello, I heard you could get a free journal workbook if I submitted a health question to

[00:01:32] your show. That motivated me to finally send one in. Here it is.

[00:01:37] Everyone knows how bad sitting is for you and how much movement improves workplace performance.

[00:01:42] Do you have any tips on how to incorporate more movement into a traditional workday,

[00:01:48] especially ways in which your sedentary boss and co-workers won't accuse you of shirking your work?

[00:01:54] Thanks.

[00:01:56] Thank you for the question, Janelle.

[00:01:58] I'm so glad that our offer of sending you a free workbook for sending in a question

[00:02:03] motivated you to do so.

[00:02:06] We are finding through survey data that for those of us in the US,

[00:02:09] we are working longer hours at our jobs and taking fewer breaks.

[00:02:13] And the breaks that we do take don't usually entail going for a walk.

[00:02:18] Instead, the breaks are usually centered around food.

[00:02:22] In a previous life, I was actually one of the ergonomists at the Universal Studios

[00:02:27] theme park in California. My job was to make sure people were safe and efficient

[00:02:32] while working for the park. I worked with a number of different populations, but

[00:02:37] I did notice a trend amongst those that worked at a desk. Their posture suffered.

[00:02:43] When we sit in our office chairs and stare at a computer screen most of the day,

[00:02:48] the muscles in our lower back, our abdominals, trapezius, and our neck begin to fatigue.

[00:02:55] So over time, it's natural that we'll begin to slouch and hunch over our keyboards.

[00:03:00] The same goes for those of us that spend a lot of our days driving.

[00:03:04] If you're listening to this while sitting at work or driving right now, I'm willing to bet

[00:03:09] you just adjusted your posture just by me bringing more awareness to it.

[00:03:14] Now, this is something I'll come back to, this idea of posture.

[00:03:17] But over the long term, if no corrections are made, chronic pain could be in the near future.

[00:03:24] Now, before I talk about getting in more movement during the day,

[00:03:27] I wanted to provide some advice with regards to how your computer is set up.

[00:03:33] First, your computer monitor needs to sit straight in front of you, not at an angle.

[00:03:39] Also, it should sit at a specific height to relieve neck and eye strain.

[00:03:45] When you're seated at your desk comfortably, the top of your computer monitor should sit

[00:03:50] slightly below eye level. This will help maintain a neutral neck position.

[00:03:55] Here's how you can do that.

[00:03:57] When you're seated comfortably at your desk, your eyes should be in line with a point on the screen

[00:04:03] about 2 to 3 inches below the top of the monitor casing, not the top of the screen itself.

[00:04:09] Next, let's adjust your chair.

[00:04:12] It's actually best to have a slight recline angle in your office chair.

[00:04:17] A reclined posture of about 100 to 110 degrees is ideal.

[00:04:21] Basically, you don't want to be sitting upright. That's going to quickly fatigue your core muscles.

[00:04:27] Also, when you're working, be sure you sit back in the chair and that your back feels

[00:04:32] supported in this position. Your feet should be placed flat on the floor or, if they can't reach,

[00:04:38] on a footrest.

[00:04:40] Now, about rest breaks at work. Most health agencies recommend that

[00:04:44] a break be taken every 30 to 60 minutes. During this break, stand up and move around if you can.

[00:04:51] Even if this break lasts for just 3 to 5 minutes, it helps. It forces you to refocus your eyes on

[00:04:57] other objects, which is great for long-term eye health and, of course, gets the body moving.

[00:05:03] Now, if you choose to go for a walk, you can help relieve some of those

[00:05:06] chest and neck muscles by making sure your posture while walking is perfect.

[00:05:11] An easy way to do this is to make sure that when you walk, you make a very gentle fist.

[00:05:17] Then, gently turn your wrists so that the knuckles of your thumbs point straight ahead.

[00:05:24] This is automatically going to force your shoulders back and down and force you to stand upright.

[00:05:31] It's simple but effective.

[00:05:33] Okay, what do we do about those that may not appreciate the fact that you're taking care of

[00:05:38] your body and going for these walks or taking these breaks, meaning those that might accuse you

[00:05:43] of taking too many breaks and not getting your work done? Well, then you can start to think

[00:05:48] about performing chair exercises so you're still in your office and improving your fitness at the

[00:05:54] same time. For example, you could work on your flexibility. You could perform some chest and

[00:06:00] neck stretches. Because we often hunch over at our desks, our chest and trapezius muscles stay

[00:06:06] contracted. So, to relieve these muscles, we want to move them in the opposite direction. You can do

[00:06:13] this in a seated or standing position but here's the basic move. Raise both your arms straight in

[00:06:19] front of you until they are at chest height. Make sure your arms touch. Then, turn your palms up so

[00:06:27] they face the ceiling. The pinky fingers on each hand should now touch. Now, with palms still facing

[00:06:35] the ceiling, slowly open up your chest by separating your pinkies and moving each arm towards the wall

[00:06:42] behind you. At the end of the move, your thumbs should be facing the wall behind you. Try and make

[00:06:49] your thumbs touch behind you. Now, you won't be able to but just thinking about it will force you into a

[00:06:56] deeper stretch. As you try and get your thumbs to touch behind you, gently exhale to get a slightly

[00:07:03] deeper stretch. To stretch the neck muscles, first place both arms by your sides so that your fingertips

[00:07:09] face the ground. You can do this standing or seated. Imagine there's a light weight dangling from each

[00:07:16] of your hands, pulling your trapezius muscles down. Then, gently turn your head from side to side

[00:07:23] while keeping your arms at your sides with those imaginary weights, keeping your arms reaching for

[00:07:29] the floor. As you gently and slowly turn your head to either side, exhale. Now, while seated, you could

[00:07:37] perform some calf raises and calf extensions. So now we're talking about a little bit of resistance

[00:07:43] style training instead of flexibility. So again, while seated, with both feet flat on the floor, flex

[00:07:50] and extend them. You should feel your calves engage. You could also lift one leg at a time

[00:07:56] and perform single leg extensions. And this move you need to do while seated. Now, you'll start to

[00:08:02] feel your quadriceps and even your stomach and lower back start to engage when you extend your legs.

[00:08:09] And if you're working at a desk, the advantage is no one's going to be able to tell because all of

[00:08:14] this is happening out of sight under the desk. Now, if you have meetings that are held remotely, try to

[00:08:21] stand during them. If you can move your body while standing, like gently walking in place or doing

[00:08:27] standing squats or standing calf raises, that would be even better. Of course, if meetings are held on

[00:08:33] Zoom with your camera on, these movements are probably not possible. But simply standing is still

[00:08:38] an improvement over sitting. Okay, now that you have all this knowledge, how do we encourage ourselves

[00:08:45] to actually take these breaks? Just like you were motivated to send in your question, we need to find

[00:08:50] a way to trigger these behaviors. After all, working at a computer can be hypnotic. Hours can pass

[00:08:57] without us even realizing it. So, to be sure you're getting those breaks in, one of the easiest things

[00:09:03] you can do is to put a reminder on your phone or on your Outlook calendar at work. Set the reminder

[00:09:09] so it goes off once every hour during the workday. If a reminder once every hour gets annoying because

[00:09:15] it's just too often, try setting it for every hour and a half or every two hours. I promise,

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[00:11:02] not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Thank you again for taking the time

[00:11:08] to send in your questions, Janelle. Now, if you want to send me a question and have it answered

[00:11:13] right here on the show, plus get a copy of our workbook just for doing that, you can email your

[00:11:18] question to health at OLDpodcast.com. Or if you want your voice played on an episode, come by

[00:11:26] OLDpodcast.com slash ask. Right on that page, you can record straight from your computer's

[00:11:33] microphone. It's really easy. You could even play back your message and do retakes before

[00:11:38] sending it in, or you can do it the old-fashioned way and call in your question. The number is

[00:11:43] 1-61-ILOVE-OHD. That's 1-614-568-3643. Alright, that's another Q&A edition of Optimal Health Daily.

[00:11:57] Thank you so much for listening every day and all the way through. I hope you have a great start to

[00:12:02] your weekend, and I'll see you back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits!