Sitting is the New Smoking
Sweet Friends, how many hours a day do you spend in a chair? 🪑
Well for me the answer to this question is… so MANY hours! My current day job is such that I sit on my tush for more than 8 hours a day 🙈 On top of this, I can get hyper-focused (especially when spreadsheets are involved 😍) and there are many times when hours go by before I take a break and stand up from my desk!!
Now before I go on, I would like to digress a bit…
My dad’s sisters (aka my aunties) were smokers. A few of them even had those cigarette extenders…. I was enthralled! As a teenager, I was eager to try smoking, but I soon learned that smoking tasted terrible and gave me a stomach-ache 🤢
So, when I first heard the saying, ‘Sitting is the new smoking’ I was super annoyed!
What?! Really!
I made it through my teenage years and emerged a non-smoker, just to have my job’s requirement that I sit at a desk all day long mistreat my body the same as if I had been successful in my attempts to become a smoker?! Bummer!!
Perhaps you have your own reaction to the ‘sitting is the new smoking’ phrase.
It sounds dramatic, I know, and yet there's real truth in it.
Our bodies are designed to move, breathe, and change levels frequently… not to fold into the same seated shape for hours on end.
There is good news…we don't have to quit our desk jobs to undo stationary damage!!
A few small, conscious shifts can make a world of difference, right there at our desks.
Here are three practices that can be implemented today:
Breathe to reset.
Pause for three slow breaths with long exhales once an hour (I set a timer on my phone with a gentle chime to alert me).
This calms your nervous system, clears the mental fog, and sharpens your focus far better than another cup of coffee will.
Change your levels.
Stand, reach tall on an inhale, then fold gently forward on an exhale.
Simply changing position wakes up your circulation and reminds your body that it isn't stuck.
Release your shoulders.
Roll them slowly back a few times, letting your breath lead,
This can melt away that creeping tension that gathers around your neck and upper back.
These little tools are just a taste of what's possible, and honestly, some things are simply better learned together, in a room full of people breathing and moving alongside you. That's exactly why we created our Functional Healing Workshops 💛
One of our most-loved sessions, "Functional Healing at Your Desk," is made for this very reason… a fun, interactive hour that sends your team home with a whole toolbox of breath patterns, movement practices, and ball-rolling techniques to counteract all that sitting.
We offer several workshops, in-person or live online, perfect for workplaces, groups, or gatherings of friends. If you'd learn more about the workshops we offer, check out the ‘Workshops’ page on our website HERE.
Your body was made to move, sweet friends, so join us Breath Connection gals and let's keep breathing and changing levels all day long… one sweet breath at a time. 🧡
Love,
