Are you sitting down? The answer, in all likelihood, is yes. After all, we’ve been parked on our butts at desk jobs for generations—and have sat even more in the past decade as we’ve become increasingly glued to our computers and smartphones for all basic functions: shopping, socializing, streaming, therapy-ing, zooming. “Many people’s lives require them to sit for hours at a job, then they hop in a car and head home, where they plop down on the couch to decompress from their day,” says Nichole Gillman, a New York–based holistic health practitioner, adding that before the advent of tech-fueled conveniences, everything required more physical exertion. Recall, for a moment, the pre-Instacart days when grocery shopping involved serious schlepping. One study found that between 2007 and 2016, daily sitting rates in adolescents jumped from 7 to 8.2 hours and in adults from 5.5 to 6.5 hours. And these figures are pre-pandemic.
As your sore hips or slight hunchback probably remind you hourly, all this sitting has had a ripple effect on our health, wreaking havoc from head to toe and everywhere in between. Consider your torso: “Prolonged sitting can lead to a reduced curve in the lower back; strain and changes in the upper back, neck, and shoulders; increased pressure in the pelvic joints and back; and reduced functioning in the muscles of the back, hips, and abdominals due to weakness, loss of range of motion, and development of muscle knots,” says Ashley Rawlins, a doctor of physical therapy based in Dallas. Even more depressing, these issues can cause knee pain and mess with your balance and how you walk.
Then there’s the pelvic floor. Prolonged sitting and slumping can, says Rawlins, reduce blood flow to superficial tissues (like those in the vulva), increase downward pressure on the tailbone and sit bones, and tighten the pelvic floor muscles to a painful degree, an issue exacerbated by stress and anxiety. That pelvic floor dysfunction (which can show up as issues with leakage, difficulty fully emptying the bladder, or pressure or pain during intercourse) has, in recent years, earned the name “pandemic pelvis.” And Origin, a company that provides pelvic floor PT (Rawlins is in charge of virtual clinical learning and development there) announced in April that it was expanding coverage to 35 states to meet the demand. Leg conditions like sciatica and varicose and spider veins can be linked to sitting too, Gillman adds.
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Your head also takes a hit. Lisa Sumption, a doctor of acupuncture and East Asian medicine and founder of Moxi, an integrative health clinic in New York, points to TMJ as an unexpected result of excess sitting; every single patient she treated during the pandemic reported it. “It was a result of internalized stress in addition to physical symptoms—like tight muscles, knots, or spasms of the traps, rhomboids, and scalene muscles—from sitting and working from home,” she adds.
Sluggish digestion is another side effect, since “sitting for long periods makes it more difficult for the body to break down sugars and fat, which results in increased metabolic disorders,” says Sumption. Prolonged sitting has also been proven to increase your risk of serious systemic health issues like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It has crippling effects on your mood and energy levels, too, says Rawlins.
Now, before you reconsider your corporate career, your Netflix habit, or your cumulative time (weeks, months, years!) spent on that leather lounger, sit tight: By incorporating the following habits, you can counterbalance all that time on your booty, and feel much more flexible and energized from here on out.
Shift your mindset
The first step is to start thinking of yourself as a moving creature, says Juliet Starrett, a trainer and mobility pioneer. She is the cofounder, with her husband, Kelly, a physical therapist, of the mobility coaching system The Ready State and the coauthor of the new book Built to Move. “It’s not about thinking that standing is good and sitting is bad. It’s that we’re not moving our bodies enough.” The Starretts suggest being as intentional as possible about movement throughout the day: If you’re folding laundry, stand up; on a work call, take it in stride, literally.
Despite being avid athletes and working with Olympians, the Starretts say exercise is not the only answer. “We’re spending billions of dollars every year on health and fitness products, but our health metrics are not getting better; in fact, they’re getting worse,” says Kelly, adding that one hour of exercise doesn’t cancel out six-plus hours in a chair. “There’s research to show that if you exercise for an hour—regardless of what it is—and then sit for the remaining hours of the day, and then sleep, all the sitting effectively cancels out the exercise,” adds Juliet.
Hit the sweet spot of steps
The 10,000-steps-a-day ideal has been stuck in our collective mindset for years. It was actually a marketing tool created by a Japanese pedometer brand in the 1960s. While we don’t have to hit 10k, steps are a great way to record our movement, says Kelly, adding that most adults are only accruing 2,000 to 3,000 steps a day. “The lion’s share of benefits for protection against causes of mortality and morbidity start to maximize at 8,000 steps, which feels like a reasonable number for a typical person to work into their day,” says Kelly. If you drive to work, park farther away; take a walking phone meeting; bookend your lunch break with a walk. Kelly adds that anyone with sleeping problems should aim higher so they feel significantly fatigued by bedtime.
Up your heart rate, and your mood
Extended sitting time (and poor sitting posture) can also chip away at your psyche, resulting in decreased attention and motivation, and increased anxiety. Those feelings aren’t just in your head: Studies have shown a link between sitting and depression and anxiety. While exercise won’t counteract all the ravages, adding even a quick daily routine that elevates your heart rate in addition to your daily steps is critical, says Sumption. “Fifteen minutes of something moderate-to-high-impact burns calories and lowers the risk of a slew of cardiovascular complications and diseases. But more importantly, it increases blood flow to your prefrontal cortex, which improves focus, concentration, and creative problem-solving,” she adds. A speedy body burn routine in the Nike app or a Pony Sweat Aerobics session will do the trick.
Expand your movement language
This applies to standing and sitting. When you sit down to watch TV at night, sink all the way to the floor. “You’ll have to lower yourself down and stand back up,” says Kelly, who explains that not being able to do this move is the number one reason people end up in nursing homes. “It’s a wonderful way to help restore what the tissues of the hips, low back, and legs are supposed to do.” Kelly also changes his working position throughout the day: standing at the standing desk, moving over to sitting on the floor at the living room coffee table, sitting in a chair. “The important thing about sitting is to eliminate marathon bouts of not moving,” he says. “Create an environment, and put an intention toward constantly changing positions.”
Clock yourself
Call it the “I’ve been on this couch for four hours?” phenomenon. “We tend to underestimate just how many times we clicked ‘yes’ to ‘Are you still watching?’ on Netflix,” adds Rawlins, who points to the CDC project Take-a-Stand, which found that reducing sitting time by 66 minutes a day curbed neck and back pain and improved mood. So set a timer, says Gillman, and try to get up every hour. “And change sitting positions every 15 to 20 minutes, or take a standing break to relieve pressure on the pelvic floor, reduce strain in the back, reactivate sleepy muscles, and prevent potential tissue damage,” says Rawlins.
Stretch and repeat
Stretching throughout the day can help activate muscles that get scrunched up, says Rawlins. Two favorites are a standing hamstring stretch (step one foot back; place hands on hips; shift weight onto the back leg, and with a straight back, hinge at the hips, leaning torso forward and pushing hips back to stretch the back of your front leg) and a standing hip flexor stretch (stand with hands resting on a wall or the back of a chair and step one foot back, keeping toes pointed slightly outward and heel on the ground; with back tall and shoulders relaxed, bend your front knee toward the wall to stretch the front of your hips). Gillman suggests these easy intermittent stretches: reach down and touch your toes, shake your legs individually for 60 seconds, or put your hands on your hips and do a few figure eights.
Fight the flatness
It is not a figment of your imagination: The dreaded “pancake butt” is an honest-to-God consequence of prolonged sitting. “It puts your glutes and hip muscles to sleep—they don’t have anything to do, so they’re off the job—which means that for hours at a time, they’re getting deconditioned and weak, and the muscles lose mass (or atrophy), so they appear thinner and more saggy,” Rawlins explains. A reduced curve in your low back can also lead to a tucking of the pelvis in sitting and standing, which can make it not only harder to engage the muscles but makes them appear even flatter, says Rawlins.
The solution—and, blissfully, there is one—is to strengthen your glutes. One way, she says, is intermittent squats done deskside: Stand behind your desk chair, using it for support, with feet slightly wider than hip distance; pull your belly button in to activate and engage your core, then bend pushing hips back lowering as far as possible up to 90 degrees; then squeeze glutes and pelvic floor as you straighten up. Repeat.
7 Ways to Get Up, Stand Up
UPLIFT Standing Desk
The bestselling standing desk is beloved for its ease of use and its vast range of customizable options.
Starling Stool by UPLIFT Desk
Juliet encourages people to try a stool instead of a chair and adopt a perching position which, she says, isn’t as taxing on the body and doesn’t let you fall into a sedentary window.
Rain Design iLevel Laptop Stand
Our screens are here to stay, so we have to adjust accordingly. This laptop stand has a sliding mechanism that allows you to tilt and lift your computer so you aren’t hunching while typing.
Everlasting Comfort Memory Foam Back Cushion
Easily straps to your desk chair and offers lumbar support to help improve your sitting posture.
“Waist belts and waist trainers are great to help support proper posture,” says Gillman.
Rogue Fitness Rogue Fidget Bar
A swinging, pendulum-style footrest co-designed by Kelly Starrett and meant to be tucked under a sitting or standing desk to discourage prolonged stretches of non-movement.
Gillman suggests setting an alarm every hour you’re sitting as a reminder to stand up, stretch, or simply change position.
Fiorella Valdesolo is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor, and the co-founder of Gather Journal.
