Did you know that sedentary behavior is conceptually different from a lack of physical activity?
You think of it this way – when you decide to lessen your sedentary behavior, it doesn’t mean you lack physical activity. Wondering why?
Because when you decrease the time you spend on a sedentary behavior, you are left with some extra time for another thing to do. And you can use that time to either increase your physical activity or be physically inactive.
What Are The Examples of Sedentary Behavior?
To give you an idea, here are some activities described to be sedentary behaviors:
- Sitting on a couch while watching TV
- Taking a nap
- Lying down to read a book
- Sitting while driving, or while travelling
Is Working at Home a Sedentary Behavior?
If your work at home requires you to sit at your desk for most hours of the day, then yes, it is a sedentary behavior.
Maybe you don’t have time to embrace a structured physical activity, like going to the gym.
How about setting a goal of increasing movement daily? We bet it is more achievable, and we can help by giving you the following desk-based exercises that you can integrate during your work hours.
Easy Stretches That You Can Do While Working at Home
Sit-Stretch
Sit on the edge of your chair and straighten your right leg with heels on the floor and toes pointing up.
This stretches your hamstrings, the muscles at the back of your legs, which tends to shorten and become tight due to prolonged sitting.
To add more stretch, you can lean forward to your desk while one leg is outstretched.
Hold the position for 20 seconds and repeat three times, then do the same stretch on your left leg.
Chest Stretch
When working on a computer, your shoulders tend to position closer to each other as your hands reach for that keyboard. This can greatly affect the chest muscles – leaving them tight or tensed.
What you can do is sit with straight torso and not leaning back to the back of your chair. Open your arms wide sideways and put your shoulders back and down. Make sure your thumbs are pointing upward.
Chair Twist
As you sit slightly forward on your chair, twist your head and torso to the right. Then cross your left arm to reach the arm rest at the right side of your chair. You can modify if it’s a bit difficult by reaching the side of your right knee instead.
As you do the maneuver, make sure to keep your feet flat on the ground. Also, you can rest your right hand on top of the back of your chair.
Hold the position for 20 seconds, then switch to the other side.
This stretch will help in reducing the feeling of stiffness on your back.
Leg-Up
Stand on your left leg while at the side of your desk. Place your left hand on the desk to balance yourself.
Lift your right heel towards your buttocks and use your right hand to hold your right foot. In this position, you will feel stretch at the front of your thigh.
Hold for 20 seconds, then repeat three times. Perform it on the other side as well.
Now that you got some stretches on your to-do list. Go ahead and try it today! We’d love to know how it went, so please do send us a message here or on our Facebook page!