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10 Desk Exercises You Should Be Doing Every Day

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9 Desk Exercises You Should Be Doing Every Day

A sedentary lifestyle has recently been coined the new smoking.

Can you imagine! The negative effects of sitting for a living are now rivalling the known health dangers of regularly inhaling deadly poisons! Wow. Let’s do something about it!

Yes, many of us have jobs that require us to sit long hours at a computer, driving, sitting in meetings, sitting at our desk, or sitting on the subway or train.

Let’s take a few minutes every hour or two, to move, stretch, and get our blood flowing. It will not only help your body feel better, but your mind will also reap the benefits of added oxygen flow and feel the joy of movement and stretching!

It is important to be mindful of your posture while at your desk or sitting in various positions. Try to sit up as straight as possible, and don’t lean in toward your computer.

If you are straining to see your monitor, make the font larger or reposition it, as the very last thing to want to be doing is tilting your neck forward to see your screen.

Over time, this can cause your neck to begin to curve forward and create a ‘forward head posture’. This is incredibly problematic for your body because your brain must be able to send all of the information your body needs to be able to function through your central nervous system. If your bones in your neck have shifted forward out of alignment from straining to see your screen, it puts an immense amount of pressure on your nervous system (which is encased by your spinal bones) and makes it very difficult for the information to get to all of the places it must reach to have your body function and heal at 100%.

Focus on stretching your neck and back muscles, arms, shoulders and legs when you take a few moments regularly to move that body! Get your coworkers involved, as they are in the same position as you – hunched over your screen for hours on end!

Businesswoman stretching herself or exercise while working at office - office syndrome concept
Stretch your arms and shoulders.
Portrait of a young smiling woman at the desk with books on her head, sitting straight, looking at the camera. Education concept photo
Can you do this? Can you balance a book on your head and continue working? This will help to train you to sit up straight and correct your posture.
Young attractive woman at modern office desk, with laptop, stretching, getting a little exercise during the day, office workout, completing difficult task, time for lunch. Business concept illustration
Stretch! Move your arms, reach for the ceiling and feel your blood circulating.
Young attractive woman at modern office desk, with laptop, stretching, getting a little exercise during the day, completing difficult task time for lunch. Businesswoman against white isolated background. Business concept illustration.
Arch your back and stretch your arms up, reach your neck back and up and hold for 10 seconds.
Young Happy Businesswoman Doing Fitness Exercise On Yellow Pilates Ball In Office
Stretch your arms and use your chair to rest on, extend your legs and feel a stretch.
male office worker,exercising during short break in work at his desk in office
Stretch your arms out and forward, and let your arms reach back to stretch your shoulders and expand your chest with your breath.
The image of business woman doing exercise at the office
Move your body side to side and let your spine move freely and stretch.
Portrait of smiling executive exercising in office
Stretch your legs and hamstrings with the support of your desk and feel the blood reach down to your toes.
Young Businesswoman Sitting On Chair Meditating In Office
Take a moment to centre your thoughts with a mini meditation over lunch. Focus on your breath and bring your thoughts back to your breath when they flit about to other ideas.
Portrait of young smiling woman wearing suit sitting at home office desk in front of laptop stretching with enjoyment after the work is done looking at screen with happy expression
Stretch your arms and wrists regularly throughout the day and remember to smile often! 

 

How many times per day do you shut down your laughter?

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How many times per day do you shut down your laughter?

I’ve heard it said many times in life that “laughter is the best medicine”.

Do you know that it’s impossible to frown, be sad and in the state of stress at the same time as smiling and laughing? Even though this makes perfect sense, how many of us actually take the time to leave our stress behind in favour of the free life-giving, health-promoting joy that is available to us in smiling and laughing in the moments of our daily lives.

While sitting at my desk in front of my computer, contemplating what health subject to write about for this article, my little 6 pound maltese-poodle-chihuahua is barking at me incessantly while the baby is upstairs having a nap.

Like most mothers who see naptime as precious as gold, my initial response is stress… stress that I only have so much time to write this article, stress that her barking will wake the baby up from her much needed nap and I won’t get this done and that I’ll have an overtired cranky baby. If she doesn’t stop barking, mama’s gonna get really mad if she wakes the baby up!!

I decided to get up to see what all the barking was about and my annoyed scowl turned to a smile and my stress turned to laughter as the little yappy barking machine proceeded to play her favourite game of chase around the basement. I take a step in one direction and she runs around the sofa at mach- speed until she almost bumps into me again and then quickly runs the other way in the opposite direction. This game continues until I decide to walk away or until the dog is so tired she collapses, usually it ends because of me. This time I couldn’t help but laugh and smile as I realized that she just wanted to play. My mood changed in an instant.

How many of these free joy-giving moments are we letting pass us by in life in favour of stress?

The stress response in our bodies leads to the release of cortisol, our natural anti-inflammatory made in- house. Too much cortisol leads to the breakdown of our cells and tissues and is not good for our health.

Life insurance companies know that the effect of negative stress in a person’s life destroys health more effectively than almost anything else. What do most people do to deal with stress? Usually dis-engage from life through the use of alcohol, drugs, anti-depressants, overeating, TV, computers, and a multitude of other addictions.

What are you doing to deal with your stress? I challenge you to see the situations in your life from a different perspective. I could’ve continued to get annoyed with the fact that my little loving dog wouldn’t stop barking. Instead I played her game for a while, laughed and smiled, then picked her up and put her on my lap. Now she’s keeping me warm, the baby’s still napping and my article is finished.

I hope you can find something to laugh and smile about today and every day. Don’t believe me? Try it.

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Blog by Guest Author:

Dr. Bernadette VecchioDr Bernadette Vecchio, DC
Dr Bernadette Vecchio is a Chiropractor in Collingwood alongside her husband, Dr David Vecchio. In practice she is passionate about serving families and helping restore their health through Corrective Chiropractic care. Currently on maternity leave, Dr Bernadette is enjoying raising their daughter and getting to know the other new moms in the Collingwood area.

Find Dr. Bernadette and Dr. David at www.innerharmonychiropractic.com and https://www.facebook.com/Inner-Harmony-Family-Chiropractic-790997060930616/