Sitting Disease in Offices: Symptoms, Effects & Solutions

Often you feel guilty when you spend more than a few hours sitting in the same position. While the urge to stand up and move around might poke you a bit, it is common for office workers and gamers to shove the feeling at the back of their minds and continue sitting. Excessive sitting in some cases is inevitable considering the people who have to spend a sad number of hours at work, which is why office workers are the most prone to the sitting disease and damage of sitting.

Many studies prove that office workers are prone to multiple long-term and short-term health issues due to their sedentary lifestyle. While the focus on the seriousness of disease from sitting too long wasn't as much in previous times as it is now, office ergonomics has brought this serious subject into the light. Hence, office workers need to understand the sitting disease symptoms, its damages, and its long-term cures.

This will help them make healthy choices and adapt to the right kind of office setup even if everyone around them is still ignoring the downsides of sitting. You can also purchase ergonomic furniture through the Autonomous employee purchase program by learning how to cure sitting disease.

What is Sitting Disease?

Though the term itself seems to explain what we are talking about, scientifically sitting disease is vast than we realize. In medical terms, sitting disease is associated with defining the 34 common and known chronic conditions that are linked to a sedentary lifestyle or what you call excessive sitting. This is because the excessive sitting lifestyle impacts the metabolic rate; hence a person is prone to sitting disease. It is common among people who eat and sit all day in front of the TV, spend more than 8 hours or so in front of the screens each day, or are reluctant to bring physical activity into their lives.

Although the sitting disease is more prevalent in older adults because of some of the physical impacts of age, which make it more difficult to stay active, we can extend our life expectancy by up to two years if we cut our sitting time to less than three hours every day.

Symptoms of Sitting Disease

Unlike other mental health and physical issues, the sitting disease is not something that doesn't show up early. However, the severity of symptoms might not begin as soon as one would like, but there are some ways to identify that your sitting posture is not healthy for you. Here are some signs to identify your sitting habits are leading you towards sitting disease:

• Common complaints of back pain and muscle aches
• Frequent headaches
• Not being able to focus actively at work
• Suffering from laziness and fatigue at all times
• Feeling uncomfortable in your office chair
• Not having an adjustable ergonomic chair
• Unable to think to your maximum potential
• Back aches and headaches
• Urge to lie down while working
• Snacking regularly and in an unhealthy manner

Effects of Sitting Diseases on Life Quality

Sitting is a form of physical inactivity, and sitting for too long every day or on most days indicates a sedentary lifestyle, regardless of whether or not one exercises. This has negative consequences for the blood circulation to vital organs in the body, breathing system and also negatively affects the posture hence putting you at risk for various ailments. A disease such as sitting disease is no joke because it affects all areas of life. Here are some common consequences of a sitting routine on your quality of life and lifestyle.

Obesity

Aside from the fact that extended sitting affects your energy expenditure, which leads to fat storage in the body, physical inactivity also hinders the body's fat and sugar breakdown. This increases the risk of obesity and diabetes.

Joint and Muscle Pain

When you sit, the leg and hip muscles are engaged and they are the one undergoing constant pressure and stress. However, if you sit for an extended period, you may overstretch and strain these muscles, causing them to become tight and short.

Mental Issues

Excessive sitting per day has been connected to mental health difficulties such as anxiety disorders and depression. It may be linked to a lack of exercise and fitness, improving mental wellness.

Heart Disease

Lengthy periods of sitting have been related to heart disease: persons who sit for long periods have a 147 percent higher risk of acquiring heart disease, according to specialists.

Solutions for Sitting Disease

As the sitting disease is solely because a person remains inactive for a major portion of their day, it is understandable that the disease can be addressed or minimized by making some changes in the routine. Now the trouble arises when you are, in one way or another, adhering to your desk or having to give a certain number of hours in the sitting position.

Especially in the case of office workers who spend more than 8 or so hours at their shift, it is inevitable to have sat as a major part of their life. Hence here are some solutions that actively work for everyone, along with office workers, in minimizing their unhealthy sitting time.

Standing Desks

Standing desks or a sit-stand desk are majorly fueled by the idea of minimizing the negative impacts of sitting on office workers and even games. A standing desk is a height-adjustable desk that doesn't make you leave your workstation but allows you to switch between sitting and standing alternatively.

With a standing desk, you can divide your work hours into sitting and standing instead of being in the same position all day. This means that with a change as simple as a standing desk, you can effectively reduce your sitting hours by up to 50%.

Desk Exercise

Exercising is always impossible for office workers because they neither have the time nor the energy to hit the gym after exhausting work hours. But home gym equipment like an indoor cycling bike or a desk exercise equipment to stay fit while working are common in modern work settings. This equipment includes under-desk ellipticals, treadmill desks, or a product like a walking pad X21.

Using home office workout equipment saves time and cost because the one-time investment pays in the long run rather than commuting and paying for the gym fees every other month.

Even if you are restricted to your chair or workstation, you don’t necessarily have to limit your movement. Standing desk exercises or simple stretches for an office chair are easy ways to achieve substantial muscle movements. These exercises are also a way to fuel up energy and recharge those muscles while working.