What Happens to Your Body When You Sit for Too Long?

Most people associate sitting down with resting. After all, you can let your body and mind take a break and relax for some time. However, if you’re sitting down in just one position for hours on end, you’ll start noticing that your muscles tense up and start hurting.

Studies show that prolonged sitting has adverse effects on an individual’s health. In addition to the familiar soreness of the back, your bones and muscles will also start degenerating if you remain in the same position for a long time. After all, our bodies are not designed to stay in one place for hours at a time, unless we’re asleep.

Some people who suffer from modern illnesses, such as obesity and diabetes, can link their conditions to sitting still for a long time. These diseases develop gradually, but you can immediately feel the pain after staying in one position for a long time. 

There are other effects of not moving around as often as you should, which include the following:

Poor Posture

It’s not always easy to be mindful of your posture when you’re sitting down. After all, your mind is probably preoccupied with other tasks. However, when you’re not mindful of how you’re sitting, your slouching position will cause your spine to curve and your back to ache.

When slouching, your head’s weight will slowly pull down your spine and make it curve unnaturally. As such, it is crucial to be mindful and keep your spine aligned to prevent your back from hurting. Instead of making gravity work against you, make it work for you. Think of your spine as a straight pole and align yourself accordingly. This way, you’ll avoid back pains and poor posture.

Deteriorating Muscles

When your muscles are doing nothing all day, they eventually waste away. As a result, whenever you do activate and use them, they cannot support you the way they should. Blood also accumulates in your veins and makes you feel those notorious cramps in your calves. To prevent this from happening, try standing up and walking around at least once per hour. This is even more important if you’re doing work that requires you to be seated for a long time. 

Misaligned Lumbar Discs

Standing is essential for your body, particularly for the discs in your lower back. When you’re sitting down for hours, you can develop a misalignment in your lumbar discs. As a result, added pressure on your vertebrae increases your chance of developing lower back pain. A compressed spine is also more likely to damage the padding in between the discs. This can cause a lot of pain that will be difficult to reverse in the long run.

Strained Nerves

Sitting for too long and not moving around affect your nerves and create unpleasant aching sensations throughout your body. Essentially, what happens is a muscle contraction that causes the nerves to contract, too, creating a spasm that might be all too familiar to some. The pain is usually felt around the shoulders and the lower back.

Conclusion

Sitting for hours on end can be a literal pain in your back, so you need to find ways to relieve any soreness that you feel. Some resort to walking around and exercising, while others find that massages help release any knots and tension in their muscles. If you’re looking for ways to improve blood circulation and get rid of aching muscles, then there is a specialized tool that can work for you.

The Gravity massage gun is designed to provide muscle pain relief and improve your blood circulation. Gravity is the leading seller of percussive therapy massage guns, and we offer our clients the best products to help them with any chronic pain and soreness. For inquiries, reach out to us today.