Recently discovered an undo-able issue with my spine. Wish someone had onboarded me about spine health like they onboarded me with SQL, Excel, Clients and company culture.

Trying to get as many people aware of spine health as I can.
A thread -
#HealthyLife #Spine #TakeCare

Move your ass every 30 mins, don’t keep sitting for longer than that, it pressurises your lower back, weakens the muscles and is correlated with cardiovascular diseases

Switch between standing and sitting every hour. No continuous sitting at any cost. Humans were not designed for prolonged sitting. To adapt with desk lifestyle, make a standing workstation and alternate between sitting and standing. Again, move every 30 mins here as well.

Keep the screen at eye level always, whether sitting or standing. Your neck is very easy to mess up if you keep looking down on your screen all day, all week, all your life. Use cheap things around your house to make it possible. Find a cardboard box, put your screen on it.

Get a mouse and Keyboard explicitly. This enables you to always elevate your screen no matter you’re standing, sitting, travelling, have additional screen etc. It also helps you maintain distance from your screen for better eye health. If u takeaway 1 key advice, this is it

Get a Swiss ball, sit on it and work for long term health benefits. It will stabilise your spine, help in strengthening your core and make you get away from desk for a bit. Core is The Most Important thing. Strengthen those muscles, exercise to build them up.

Exercise - It is observed spaced quick exercises show similar health benefits as 30mins of aerobics. Take 5 mins break every 45-60 mins. Squeeze in those squats/crunches/planks. No need to take out 45mins from your busy schedule. Just spread out the activity throughout ur day.

Reminders - To help automate your lifestyle, use apps to help you. I have started using Stretchly which has mini breaks and long breaks you can’t set. It will flush on your screen and remind you to get up. It also shows quick advice during breaks - Blink, look away or stretch

Cost - If you have a desk job, you’re probably gonna spend most of your life on your workstations. Investing in a good chair, a keyboard and a mouse, a Swiss ball will never cost as much as an injured spine. No amount of money will bring it back to what it was. Having said that -

There are cheap alternatives to most things. Get a good mouse (₹1-2K) and a cheap keyboard (₹500). Make a standing desk out of Amazon boxes/bed-study table. Buy a Swiss ball (₹700). Buy an ergonomic chair (₹10K) or make any chair ergonomic by using a back roll (₹1k)

Do everything that it takes to keep your spine healthy, your core strong, your posture correct and your life healthy. It’s the least we can do for ourselves.

Take care