Being Healthy and Well When Forced to Sit
Note: South Orange Chiropractic Center recorded this webinar of which is one episode. The webinar is produced and recorded for the ear and they were designed to be either watched live on video or listened to via audio. If you are able to, we strongly recommend listening to/watching this episode which will include emotion and emphasis that isn’t obvious when reading a transcript. Our transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and humans. They may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print. This is not meant to be chiropractic advice.
Webinar Host 00:05
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our webinar on being healthy and well when forced to sit. The doctors at South Orange Chiropractic Center know that you probably spend more time sitting these days than you should. And this webinar will cover practical ways to keep your body healthy during long bouts of sitting, you’ll be able to approach your long days at work with a new perspective, and possibly feel better armed with this new information, the doctors will open the call for questions after their presentation. Doctors, over to you.
00:39
So we decided that we had, you know, in addition to the video we had done in the past of state fit while you sit near some exercises that we did ergonomics, a lot of patients are still coming in post COVID, because they’re still working from home, that maybe they get into the office two or three times a week, but they’re still working at the dining room table is still working from their couch on their laptop. And it’s still having issues. So I think it’s important that when you’re locked into the computer, are locked into your desk for eight or 10 hours. If we can keep it simple that you can make some changes, we want to focus around the concept of maintaining that energy. So you don’t leave that workday, fatigued, tired. And there are steps that you can take. And it’s going to boil around, eat well think well and move well. Good three things that we talked about all the time, isn’t it? Absolutely. And I think a good place to start is let’s get the nutrition part out of the way. Because people are not eating well, when they’re rushing to their computer or sitting at the desk. And what are some things that we hear that people bring to the desk while they’re working?
02:02
A lot of times it’s a bag of chips, Diet Coke, or Coca Cola, keep them up. And, you know, these are all harmful to the body and actually fatigue you even more.
02:14
Right. And it’s when they’re getting tired two hours into the workday, it’s that third or fourth cup of coffee. Right? Right. And, and that can be an issue because one, it’ll dehydrate you. To my guarantee of most people drinking coffee, they’re not drinking, organic, and coffee seems to be one of the most sprayed and treated substances that we’ve put in our body, right if it’s not bolded. So it’s, it’s important to get a low acid, organic coffee, which is available.
02:50
And if you’re drinking a cup of coffee, people don’t know how much water they they’re actually losing. And science says drink a cup of coffee, you should replace that with eight ounce glass of water. So unfortunately, you’re not being told that information,
03:09
right. And the fact of the matter is, if you’re sipping ice water, throughout the day, it’s we’re proving that you can burn an additional three to 400 calories sitting just by sipping ice water because it will increase your metabolism. Right. And one of the number one triggers for daytime fatigue is dehydration. So, you know, there’s no set amount of water that you should be drinking, but there aren’t guidelines.
And what do we tell our patients, the guidelines are simple to half your body weight in ounces. So if I’m 180 pounds, I should be drinking 90 ounces of water slowly throughout the day. And studies actually say that you should be drinking is slowly everyone says well, 90 ounces of a lot of water. So I’m just gonna gulp down 20 ounces in the morning, the 20 in the evening, and throughout the day. But it’s shown that when you drink more water and access, you actually use the bathroom more often. So that fear with always having to run to the bathroom, that can be eliminated if you do drink it slowly. And you start to do it on a regular basis.
So what we put in our bodies is also important a lot of our patients that are working from home, they tend to spend more hours working on the computer at home than they do if they went into the office. You know they’re starting earlier they’re finishing later. They’re replacing that commute time with computer time. So endurance is a big part. And instead of eating like you said the chips or some of these high sugar energy bars is nothing wrong with having raw almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts. Good have sources of protein and take a lunch break. And right you can’t sit, stay straight through.
05:08
Now you’re not. And we know sugar is, excuse me sitting is sugar to the spine, it’s decaying, and it’s one of the most compressive forces on the disc, which ultimately leads to low back pain and more commonly sciatic discomfort. So you got to get up and got to move. And you got to start to learn how to stretch in between your visits from being on the computer to taking a break every 45 minutes.
05:38
Another good part of when you’re sitting all day, is making sure your thought processes are clean. What I mean by that is thinking well, and we can get distracted. Many times when there’s background noises. If you’re working from home, or you’re working in the office, and people are there with chatter, sometimes it’s negative, sometimes it’s unrelated to your work. And you’re trying to focus and you’re on a conference call or resume call.
That background noise can be drained. So it’s, you know, have a place where you can work that you can be quiet, close the door. Even background noise of music, yeah, music, whiteboards, machines, they say a very soothing kind of comfort to your mind as you’re working throughout the day. And then, you know, getting CDs for relaxation, because ultimately, you’re going to get your work done. But having that mindset of relaxation, taking it step by step, you’re gonna plow through your, your tasks.
06:53
Knowing some breathing techniques is also important if you’re sitting in your workstation. And there’s a lot going on in your world and on your computer, something called Box breathing, where you will slow down, inhale for the count of four. Hold it for four seconds, and then exhale for a count of four. And do that for a series of five times this will help reset your brain oxygenate your body. And we’ll refresh you. Right because I do very good on blue screen. All right. So we’ve got a pair here of what’s called blue light glasses sitting in front of your screen and that blue light, it’s nice to put on a pair of blue light glasses when looking at the screen, because it will create less fatigue. Right. And likewise, you shouldn’t be on your. In our sleep workshop, we talked about not being on computers, electronics because of the blue light because it activates those neurotransmitters.
08:08
And one of the thing about the blue light lens is it filters it so that it eliminates headaches. Migraines, if anybody was watching America’s got a ton of talent. Simon Powell was recently on there with these different glasses on everybody’s like, what’s going on. And it’s because of his ongoing migraines from the lights in the casting Hall. So save yourself some time, get your glasses on, right?
Good posture at the workstation is important. And that’s where your exercises will come in. But how many times are we focused forward into the computer. And then we get things like what’s called Tech neck, push your heads going forward. And then there’s tech hunch where you bent over, because the ergonomics is not right. We want to talk a little bit about that.
09:02
Yeah, if you look, throughout this video, Dr. Levine and I are both sitting far back in our chairs we’re utilizing the backrest because ultimately we know that’s what it was made for. When we’re at our computers and we’re doing six to eight hours on all day here, we’re sitting upright, and if any of you can see my knees, you’re at 90 or if at times, I feel like I’m gonna be there a little bit longer. I like to put something underneath my feet like a three ring binder or a stool, and that’s gonna keep me focused more upright. And when I’m staring at my computer, I’m making sure that I’m as close as possible to my workstation, so it’s locking me in, hands are at 90, and my screen is always at or just a little bit above eye level. So I don’t have to focus to Ford don’t have to have that technique that we were just talking about, which fatigues you mentally physically and causes all that stress in your neck and shoulders that most people come to the chiropractor for And on irregular. But that’s going to help keep us in the best posture possible to eliminate fatigue on our muscles, fatigue on our spines and nervous system. So what to add about that?
10:13
Well, before we get into showing some exercises that you can do with the workstation, which is critical, it’s not just about sitting in correct postures working the muscles that you’re overworking or over stretching. Okay, if you have the opportunity, if you’re on a zoom call, stand up. See if you can stand and some people have a standing desk, they can put one foot up on something, or if it’s a conference call, you can walk around with a headset, a headset would be ideal, or put your your cell phone on speaker so you’re not folding into your head and getting those 5g waves going through your brain. Keep that phone as far away from you as possible. This is what the things that cause fatigue also is poor posture. We can read something one of our favorite quotes from on posture is from was health and fitness rock, she’s gonna read it and let you go with that. All right, so I’m gonna read the entire quote.
“Posture is affected by and affects every aspect of our lives. Your state of nutrition, exercise, stress management, body fat control and mental development depend on your posture.
Posture is one of the most overlooked keys to best health and performance. Good posture not only improves fitness, thinking ability, motional state in general vitality, that can actually help reverse the aging process, not just cosmetically but functionally.”
And this was from the health and fitness excellence Journal of 1989.
12:00
That’s right. And this was a quote from Robert K. Cooper, who is ex Army Ranger and neuro physicist who studied human performance. That’s why he said posture is the most overlooked key to best health. And the only doctors that I know that work on helping people’s posture are chiropractors, and I think we’re chiropractors Yeah, so we can help you with your posture.
12:25
It’s amazing that it’s from 1989. And we’ve been talking about it since then. But now it’s it’s sought after companies are looking for us to educate their, their, their members of the community to make sure that they’re more productive, not just inward, but outside of the workplace, less injuries.
12:46
So we talked about some nutrition, better protein, less carbs, drinking more water to complement the coffee that you’re drinking, resetting your brain with proper breathing techniques, isolating stuff, get rid of some of the background noise in the chatter, blue light glasses. The box breathing is what we talked about. Now, I think it’s time to demonstrate some simple things you can do at your desk to prevent fatigue and breakdown of the nervous system and the human structure and the musculoskeletal system. So one is we have what we call the goal post rotation. So if I’m sitting in my computer, and I’m on my keyboard all day long, and on my mouse, it’s nice to be getting my hands up and shoulders up and retracting them back and coming up as a goalpost. And I can feel my scapula is in my mid back tighten up as I bring that goalpost up. So keeping the elbows at 90 degrees and coming down retraction and then goalpost and hold that each position for five seconds. And do that five times coming back squeezing your chicken weeks together. And then coming up for five seconds. And if you do that once an hour, that’s going to help relieve some of that upper back about throw the rules or the rules.
14:29
Excellent idea. So we encourage everybody to sit up nice and tall every 45 minutes. And what you want to do is because you’re drawn forward, you want to sit up nice and tall. Keep the shoulders back and gently bring the leads together in the back of your spine and then retract them down. So it’s simply bringing them up to your ears. Pinch two blades together between your shoulders, and then bring them down and just do that for a set of 15 or 20. There already you could feel the chest stretching and the back muscles engaging so you’re working with posterior part of your body compared to the sun. What other stretch could we do for our chest would be simple, you put your hands behind your back, chest out,
15:11
and you’re going to push down to the ground while keeping your head and chin level. And you can pull that for five to 10 Count, if comfortable, and really get set up nice and tall, pushing your body in chest out, five to 10 Count and relieving that stress on your shoulders, or chest. Now a lot of times we’re getting people with shoulder problems, tendinitis because they’re at one overextended on the mouse, and they’re always leaning forward. So if we interlock our fingers, and raise our arm straight above our head, and push upward, to stretch out the shoulder and the rotator cuff, hold that for like 15 seconds, if you can really feel the stretch and get circulation into those muscles, block out the elbows, and then bring that down. Don’t hold your breath, make sure you breathe as you’re holding it. And you want to do that for a series of three times. Just to get that circulation. In conjunction with with Dr. Oxy did with putting your hands behind your back and pushing your chest out
16:17
that move also elongate the spine, it is taking pressure off the disk. So you’re also helping your entire spine and nervous system as well.
16:25
Now we did submit a handout, I’m not sure if you want to throw that up just so you can see a picture of what we were talking about. And there are some other stretches that you can do.
Getting up against the wall or filing cabinets stretching out, the calf is in the top left-hand corner. Doing a squat is top center. And that stretches out those quads. All right, which tighten up when you’re sitting and the one below it holding on to the doorway, grabbing one leg up, if you can’t grab that one leg up, you can use a towel to stretch that quad out. And a couple others that are they’re just standing and or sitting stretching your hands out in front of you. So just so you get an idea of what it looks like and some other things you can do. But remember, if you don’t use it, you lose it. It’s good to keep the joints moving, and prevents fatigue, as well as making sure that you don’t break down with tech neck or tech hunch.
17:38
I think it’s important that everyone knows that every 45 minutes, they should take a rest program that on your phone have a buddy to help you stretch and take a break. And ultimately, it’s going to increase your workflow productivity if you have less discomfort less this is easing your neck and shoulders.
17:57
Right. One of the other devices that we have in the office that you’ve recommended some patients, it’s called the posture medic. And it’s a band that you can stretch. And then you can wear it so it retracts your shoulders. So some people like having simple devices, we tell patients not to purchase it just to wear it. The whole point is to do the exercises, and the with the stretching band. And that will help build strength and endurance. So it’s using some of the exercises that we demonstrated, but with resistance. And I think that kind of sums it up. There’s you know, the eat well think well move well concept. And I think we gave funny good tips to implement. Right, great. And I think we’re open for any questions.
Webinar Host 18:48
That’s great. Thank you very much doctor. So we have three questions here.
- Will a better chair helped me sit longer?
19:00
Ultimately, a better chair is going to hold you in proper posture if you’re utilizing it. But again, you know, sitting longer, we don’t advise you to sit longer because again, sitting is the most compressed into the disk compress it to the spine. So regardless of the chair, you should take a break every 45 minutes to elongate your voxels reset the spine and take some pressure off those fatigue joints.
Webinar Host 19:29
What do I do on those days where my Zoom calls really are back to back for at least a couple of hours and I can’t take a break?
19:42
So if you can arrange your workstation, one where maybe you can stand up for some of them, maybe tilt the screen so you can still zoom and stand. I’m not sure some people are doing zooms and they put a background up where they’re not always present and You can participate and do some of your exercises while you’re there. Make sure you have some chilled water that you can sip during your zoom. Cool. And you have to muscle through
20:14
it sometimes, right? Then also get there would be a headset. Right? Absolutely. That said, and again, if you have that availability that you don’t have to be present on it, take some breaks, walk around your home or your office space and rejuvenate.
Webinar Host 20:32
If I drink one cup of coffee to one cup of water is that enough of a ratio to keep me healthy?
20:47
Yeah, that’s that is the formula for every cup of coffee, one cup of water. And that’s going to help replenish you. But ultimately, you still want to have a little bit more water at the end of the day, which is half your body weight in ounces, because that’s what your body’s made out of water. The more water you are, the better you are on your toes for thinking, energy, sleep, less hunger. So you want to get more water, use a high quality coffee, try and get organic, and something that has less toxicity to it.
Webinar Host 21:21
Very good. That’s all the questions that we have today.
Thank you very much for joining us for the webinar today. Click here if you would like to book an appointment with the doctors, or you can call the office directly. 908-364-5497 Thank you very much for joining us for the webinar today. Have a great day.
