We’ve all heard that a sedentary lifestyle is bad for you. Why this may be true, many find it easy to dismiss. In today’s society, a growing number of jobs require us to sit and work at a computer for hours at a time. It’s easy to become caught up in your work and not realize the hours have gone by. You may think to yourself, “oh well, I feel fine!”. However, over time this can lead to a variety of issues that manifest themselves as pain and discomfort.
The good news is there are a number of preventative measures you can take to live pain free. As an aspiring entrepreneur, this is critical to the success and enjoyment of your future achievements. With that said, let’s cover the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle and what you can do live a pain free life.
The Sedentary Lifestyle
Have you ever really given thought to how much you sit throughout the day? You sit down to have breakfast in the morning, you sit in your car and drive to work, you sit at your desk all day, you sit on the drive back home, you sit at the dinner table, then sit on the couch while you watch tv. This could easily add up to over 12 hours of sitting each and every day. Our bodies were not designed to sit for these long periods, we were designed to move.
This creates a laundry list of potential problems over the long term. You may feel fine today, but given time, things will break down. Think of it like investing in the stock market – things start out small, but grow into something more substantial over time. That said, let’s cover a few specific issues you may encounter.
Weight gain
The most common result of a sedentary lifestyle is weight gain. If you don’t move around, your body doesn’t have a chance to burn many calories. This may even slow your metabolism, making it even harder to lose the excess weight. Now this may not seem like a big deal, but over time it can lead to a number of problems including the following:
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease & strokes
- Sleep apnea
- Liver disease
- Kidney disease
- Cancer
- and more…
These are just a few of the complications one may experience from excessive weight gain. If your body isn’t functioning optimally, these types of problems may negatively affect your life and potential. This hits home because I just recently lost a good friend of mine at 37 years old due to heart failure. It was completely avoidable had he been more active.
Weak Bones & Muscles
Your body responds to stimulus. The harder you work it, the more it will work to withstand those challenges. Even the simple force of gravity is enough to make your body work to stand upright. However, when you sit, you relieve your body of that stress. While it’s always nice to sit from time to time, excessive sitting will cause weakness in your body. The result will be weak/brittle bones and a loss of muscle strength. While this may not be an issue when you’re young, it will cause a number of issues as you grow older and weaker still. Daily life could become a struggle and injuries much more prevalent.
Poor Circulation & Inflammation
They say exercise is the fountain of youth. This is likely true because it keeps the blood flowing and tissues healthy with oxygen and nutrients. Sitting for long periods of time slows the heart and circulation system. The result is any number of issues such as the following:
- Brain fog
- Heart disease
- Digestive issues
- Varicose veins
- Inflammation
- Many more…
To put it plainly, sitting causes inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation is the basis for many common diseases. In the short term, you won’t be able think as clearly or creatively. In the long term, you’re susceptible to any number of complications.
Muscle Imbalances
We all have muscle imbalances. As much as we’d like to think our bodies are perfectly in balance, it’s not the case. This is heavily affected by what you do on a daily basis…also known as your job. If your job requires you to sit for hours at a time, your body will begin to cater to that position. This happens through a process called adaptive shortening/lengthening.
Adaptive shortening/lengthening is the process by which your muscles adjust to the position they’re placed in most. So when you sit with bad posture, your hip flexors are shortened, your glutes are stretched out, your abs are relaxed, your low back is tight, your shoulders are rounded forward, your upper back is rounded, and so on and so forth. Over time, your body will adjust to make sitting it’s preferred position. This is fine until you try and move around because certain muscles have now become restricted, creating altered movement patterns and pain. This is a major reason why older folks have such a hard time moving around, they’ve developed a number of muscle imbalances which result in pain.
My Personal Experience
The topic of this post is a little different from the usual online business/financial freedom category. However, it’s of vital importance because if you want to see results in your financial life, you need to keep your physical health in-check. What’s the point of working so hard if you’re not healthy enough to enjoy it? I realize this now because I myself have had issues stemming from my sedentary work.
Where it all began
Four years ago, I was in peak physical shape…or so I thought. I was going to grad school full time, working a part time job, and hitting the gym hard 3-4 times per week. I was eating healthy, working hard on my education, and feeling great. Then suddenly, I started experiencing extreme pain and discomfort in my lower abdomen during my workouts to the point I had to stop altogether.
I went to a number of doctors, physical therapists, and no one had a clear answer/solution for me. Over time, the pain shifted from my lower abdomen to my low back. The pain got so bad that I could hardly walk or carry groceries into the house. An MRI showed some slight disc issues, but nothing that would warrant my degree of pain. I couldn’t enjoy any of my physical hobbies and was basically constrained to my desk and couch, trying anything I could to solve the problem. Well, through research and trial & error, I finally started figuring it out.
The Problem
I didn’t get it, here I was trying to be healthy and all I did was make myself physically miserable. After years of research, trial and error….and lots of it, I started figuring it out. I came across a quote which sums things up quite nicely…
Don’t add strength to dysfunction.
Turns out I created the perfect storm for myself. I would sit for hours in a classroom, sit for hours at my job, sit for hours working on homework, then carry those muscle imbalances to the gym where I would make them even worse. Yes, I was physically strong, but my body mechanics were so dysfunctional, that I couldn’t move without being in pain.
What I developed was something called anterior pelvic tilt or lower cross syndrome, which basically means my pelvis rotated too far forward. This is the result of tight hip flexors & low back muscles, and weak abs and glutes. Here’s a visual to help:
This causes me to have back pain all the time because I’m arching my low back to stay upright. I also started to develop a case of upper cross syndrome as well because I wasn’t able to work out much for a few years. Upper cross syndrome is similar in that it happens across the upper body. Key indicators are forward rounded shoulders and your neck/heads sticks further out from your body. Here’s another visual:
This dysfunction can manifest itself as neck pain and headaches which eventually lead to disc issues. If anything, I recommend this posture brace to help train your body to hold correct posture. I recently bought one and it’s been a helpful aid. Corrective exercises will be your best bet though.
So, as you can see, sitting for hours at a time has completely ruined my posture. The crazy thing is, I am not alone, I see it everywhere! I’ve gained such an education on posture that I can spot people’s imbalances almost immediately. So here’s what I’m doing to fix everything.
The solution
If I could give one piece of advice to my younger self, it would be to learn about posture and proper body mechanics. For example, I used to do weighted squats and felt it all in my quads. My glutes never fired because of my muscle imbalances and I didn’t know any better.
Well now, my focus is 100% on postural restoration. I’m stretching the tight/overactive muscles and strengthening the weak/underactive muscles. Each muscle group should be in balance with it’s antagonist. If one muscle group is over-compensating, you need to focus on the antagonist muscles until things are balanced out. So in my case, I’m working hard on strengthening my abs and glutes while stretching my hip flexors and low back. I’m also working hard to strengthen my upper back to pull my shoulders down and back. It’s been a long road, but I’m finally making progress.
If you’re interested in learning more about postural restoration and safe exercises, I highly suggest taking tips from Grey Cook, he knows his stuff. I also follow Blake Bowmen from GuerrillaZen Fitness, you’ll find a number of great videos about postural restoration.
Movement = Health
The sedentary lifestyle is not one of health and achievement. With movement and exercise comes strength, confidence, creativity, and energy to take on any challenge thrown your way. It helps you live longer, stay youthful, relieve stress, and enjoy physical activity throughout your life. If you’re looking to take on the challenge of entrepreneurship, physical activity is one of the most important baseline aspects of achievement. You can get by without it, but you won’t see your true potential.
If this inspires you to start exercising at all, I highly recommend working with a personal trainer or physical therapist who can help you gain better balance throughout your body. Learn proper breathing techniques, how to brace your core, and add strength to functional movement patterns that will keep you strong for many years to come. Has physical exercise helped you in the past? Leave any comments or questions below, I’m happy to share what I’ve learned the past number of years.
*Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that I have experience with all of these companies, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something.
