My sister has a ‘sitting down’ job

Body and Mind Fitness/Blog/My sister has a ‘sitting down’ job
  • February 5, 2014

My sister (who is called Susan for the purpose of this blog post – actually that IS her name but I always had a different name for her when I was younger!) is older than me. In fact, she is just over 5 years older.sitting down job

Wow, I just can’t believe she’s now in her 50s. Can you remember when you were 18 and even 30 seemed ancient?! 40 – well, 40 was like a grandparent’s age! Now though, 40 is young, ha!

Anyway, back to my sister! I feel a bit sorry for her. She works hard, long hours, tough working conditions and so on. We refer to her as having a ‘sitting down’ job.

In a 10-hour shift, she probably sits for 9 ½ hours. She gets a short lunch break and the odd toilet break. Insane working conditions and it shouldn’t be allowed.

Her problem? She’s just not getting enough exercise (or activity for that matter). Her muscles aren’t being used properly, her joints stiffen, she suffers back ache, neck problems and more.

She has put on weight and because of her ridiculous working conditions, doesn’t eat as healthily as she should. Does this sound familiar?

It’s a real catch 22 situation. Today’s modern world actually means we’re less healthy and less active because we’re sitting much more.

So, what can my sister do about it to stay healthy?

Here are my 7 Top Tips so that my sister (and you) can keep active in intervals and stay healthy:

  1. Take away your chair and stay in a squat position for 20-25 seconds. Repeat 5 times. This gets your thighs working.
  2. Take a 5 minute break and go up and down the stairs 5 times. This gets your heart pumping and your lungs working harder.
  3. Take your hands away from the keyboard for 2 minutes and circle your wrists clockwise/anti clockwise 10 times each. Gently pull your hand down to stretch your wrist. This may help to avoid RSI.
  4. Have a bottle of water on your desk and drink 5 large mouthfuls every half hour to keep hydrated.
  5. Remember to keep snacking on healthy foods such as nuts, seeds, natural yogurt, fruit, houmous, rye or millet bread, mackerel pate, health bars, 85% cocoa dark chocolate, smoothies etc. Don’t go hours without food otherwise your blood sugar levels will drop.
  6. Stretch your chest muscles by taking your arms behind your back and gently open out your chest. This may help to avoid back pain and tension in your shoulders.
  7. Get the blood into your calf muscles by lifting your heels 20 times at a time.

Keep active as much as you can.

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