Whether on the way to work in the car, in the office in front of the computer or in the evening at home on the sofa – we spend most of the day sitting down. This comfortable and at first seemingly harmless posture can, if it is taken permanently, lead to physical discomfort and make you sick.

The resulting lack of exercise has become a social phenomenon and one of the most common causes of many civilization diseases. Mostly we sit with a round back, pulled forward and strained shoulders and pushed forward neck, angled hips and knee joints and crossed legs, for hours at the desk without us to touch. I would like to draw your attention to the health consequences of our seating culture and how you can counteract these with various yoga exercises.

So, damaging is permanent sitting – health consequences:

Long sitting shortens your hip flexors and is often the cause of back and hip pain

The unnatural position when sitting, with round back, angled legs and thus permanently bent hips, shorten your muscles in the groin, on the thigh front and also in your lower back. The permanently tense and flexed hip flexor gets accustomed to this permanent condition at some point. Without sufficient and compensatory movement, your connective tissue around your muscle will be shortened and your hip flexors will eventually not stretch completely and pull the vertebrae to which it is attached forward and a hollow cross is created. The altered posture can put a heavy strain on your vertebrae and intervertebral discs in your lumbar region and can lead to painful tension in your lower back and in your hips.

Your spine and intervertebral discs are burdened by permanent sitting, which causes back pain

You perceive sitting in comparison to standing as soothing? Relaxing for your intervertebral discs is by no means. Often, we work in a slightly forward leaning position, spending hours concentrating on the computer, not realizing how round and crooked our back is. Due to the constantly slumped sitting posture, your core muscles are restored and can no longer fulfill the natural support function of your spine. Your spinal discs, the shock absorbers of your spine, are subjected to a relatively high pressure in this posture, pushed back and restricted their supply of nutrients and fluid, which can promote a herniated disc.

Through a permanently sedentary activity, your shoulder girdle and neck muscles are tense, causing headaches

If you sit for hours at the desk and stare into the screen of your computer, you tend to push your head forward and pull your shoulders up. This wrong posture permanently leads to tensions in your shoulder girdle and neck muscles. The consequences are pain and restricted movement of your cervical spine, your shoulder area or even your thoracic spine. Due to the faulty and cramped posture can also arise as an additional side effect tension headache.

Long sitting leads to a chronic shortening of your leg backs, back pain can be the result

In a sitting posture with a curved torso and crossed legs, the backs of your thighs contract continuously. If you still move too little and your leg backs do not stretch sufficiently, painful tension can arise in this area. In addition, then tilted by the shortened hamstrings, your pelvis in the wrong direction. This false loading increases the pressure on your spinal discs in the lower back and can cause pain in the lumbar region.

Due to the lack of exercise causes sitting indigestion

For your gut is like your entire body – long sitting makes lethargic. The collapsed position of your upper body and your curved back will squeeze your inner organs together. This will worsen your circulation in some places and in certain organs. The permanent lack of exercise and the reduced blood flow in the organs interfere with your intestinal function and slow down your digestion. Indigestion, constipation, abdominal pain, bloating, and heartburn are the result.

Sitting lowers your metabolism and increases the risk of various metabolic and cardiovascular diseases

An active metabolism invigorates your body and ensures that you feel awake and active and helps you to burn fat. The vessels of your body provide your organs and your muscles with oxygen and nutrients. By sitting for a long time your metabolism becomes sluggish, the blood circulation in your blood vessels and in your legs is suppressed and a feeling of fatigue develops. The slowing down of the metabolism has permanent consequences for the function of your organs and body tissue.