By michael - February, 10th 2014

To understand the best way to set up a computer workstation, it is helpful to understand the concept of neutral body positioning. This is a comfortable working posture in which your joints are naturally aligned. Working with the body in a neutral position reduces stress and strain on the muscles, tendons, and skeletal system and reduces your risk of developing a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD).

We sit to commute. Sit at our computers. Sit at meetings. Relax…by sitting at home. In North America, most adults sit for about 9.3 hours. And that’s bad news for our health.

When we sit for long periods, circulation is constricted. Metabolism slows. Muscles shut off; connective tissue tightens.

Our brain hungers for blood and nutrients that are barely slugging through our system.

Our body engine is set to “idle”, neutral, or even worse — switched off.

Sitting too much makes us unhealthier, unfitter, more metabolically broken — possibly even dumber.

Ha, you think. I work out. I’m safe.

Think again.

If you work out for an hour a day, but sit for the remainder, that one hour doesn’t do much to counter 9+ hours of butt-in-chair.

(Just like running an hour doesn’t give you a free pass to smoke.)

Bottom line: There is nothing good about prolonged, chronic sitting.

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