5 problems of sedentary work: from stomach pain to dandruff. Doctors' advice on how to be healthy

We all know that work makes us fat. It's time to change everything!

We spend almost a quarter of our lives at work. That's a ton of time spent sitting. Of course, this lifestyle cannot make your waist smaller. A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that sitting for long periods of time, even with regular exercise, increased the risk of early death by 10%. OK.

Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do in the office and still lose weight. Follow our advice and you will lose weight - and you will get paid for it too!

Never ever! - don't drink soda to cheer you up

To cope with the oncoming sleep, you feel the urge to knock back a can of Diet Coke. Do not do that! The University of Texas Science Center found in a study that adults who drink diet cola tend to gain 70% more weight than those who don't drink soda. In addition, aspartame raises glucose levels to such a height where it turns into fat. You won't believe what will happen to your body if you just stop drinking diet soda.

What happens to our body when we sit?

When our fifth point lands on the surface of a chair or armchair, the following happens: our body stops moving. And this is an indisputable fact. Whether we like it or not, lack of physical activity negatively affects our health: muscles weaken, blood stagnates, and body weight begins to increase. The chances of impotence, osteochondrosis, atherosclerosis, and high blood pressure increase.

Few people know that in fact, not only the heart pumps blood, the smooth muscles of our blood vessels do this. They are the ones who push and regulate blood, dispersing it throughout the body. If a person sits motionless for a long time, then these muscles do not work and the heart experiences stress.

The longer we do not move, the greater the load on the heart. Metabolism slows down, and the risk of excess weight increases sharply, especially if a sedentary lifestyle is accompanied by poor nutrition and eating habits, which affects our weight.

Lean on H2O

Are you really hungry or just thirsty? A study in the journal Physiology & Behavior found that people who misunderstand their thirst eat when they need to drink 60% of the time. Even if you don't restrict yourself from water, drinking a glass of water before meals will give you the opportunity to eat much less. If plain water is too boring for you, add citrus fruits and you will get a real detox water. A glass of refreshing H2O will fill your body with fluid and save you from dehydration. According to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 500 ml of water increases metabolic rate by 30%. Add 1.5 liters of water to your daily diet and you will burn 17,400 calories per year!

Problem No. 4. Backache and radiculitis

For osteochondrosis, I suggest smoothly descending further down the back to the level of the lower back. Shooting and radiculitis also quite often afflict citizens who sit at their desks all day. Unfortunately, these sores again more often torment men.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com / www.globallookpress.com

Sometimes folk remedies help with muscle, joint and spinal pain. For example, you can warm the sore spot with a heating pad, sand heated in a frying pan or regular salt (apply only in a linen bag), hot water in a bottle, a stone heated in the sun...

In general, whatever is at hand. Then take some anti-inflammatory drug, drink raspberry tea and get a good night's sleep in a warm, dry bed. Before going to bed, it is advisable to wrap the aching area warmly with any woolen item. After such procedures, the pain usually goes away.

If the lumbar pain does not go away after a couple of days, you can safely assume that it is radiculitis, and you need to begin serious treatment with your doctor.

And it is also necessary to take into account that the back can hurt for a variety of reasons. Therefore, you should not immediately sin on the chair. It is better to go to the doctor and get thoroughly checked, because back pain can be due to kidney problems, old radiculitis, salt deposits, progressive prostatitis, and in women, by the way, pain can be due to inflammation of the appendages.

Use the stairs

It may seem obvious, but you'll be surprised how much weight you can lose in such a simple way! If you have a document to take to the fifteenth floor and you're on the 10th, use the stairs instead of the elevator and you'll burn twice as many calories as walking. According to research from the University of New Mexico, a 75-kilogram man will lose about 3 kg per year if he walks two flights of stairs a day. And if this number is increased to 6... then he will lose 9 kg!

Move or gain weight

How does our body react to lack of movement? Scientists say that even if you love working out and devote 1.5-2 hours every day to intense physical activity in the gym, sitting for a long time has a negative impact on your health.

Not only that, but recent research shows that just sitting isn't so scary. The problem is not that we sit, but how long we sit still.

For example: if you get up and move every 15-20 minutes, you will live much longer than your neighbor who stretches only once an hour. And he, in turn, will live longer than someone who gets up from his chair once every two hours.

Therefore, for health, it does not matter how much time we spend training, what is much more important is how many hours in a row you spend motionless. Moreover, a sedentary lifestyle can nullify the effect of training. The more you sit, the less you move. The less you move, the more you weigh.

Do you want to lose weight? It's simple. Our body requires movement. Movement is one of the key tools for maintaining or losing weight, along with reasonable and proper nutrition.

Replace your morning coffee with green tea

Coffee in the morning gives you a caffeinated boost of energy, while green tea relieves anxiety and also burns fat. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that tea—including green tea—contains catechins that speed up fat loss. In addition, Taiwanese researchers found in a sample of 1,100 people who were observed for 10 years: those who drink green tea have 20% less body fat. The tea is so good for weight loss and overall health that it can be used for detox.

Proper nutrition at work: what to avoid

It is so difficult to resist temptations in the workplace. What prevents you from leading a healthy life and feeling great in the office?

1. Lots of coffee and tea during the working day, as well as energy drinks. Remember that the norm is to consume less than 300 mg of caffeine.
2. Long periods between meals. May lead to gastrointestinal diseases.
3. Snacks, pies, fast food. Eating dry, unhealthy foods rich in carbohydrates and fats can lead to the development of diabetes mellitus and excess weight gain.
4. Large amounts of sugary foods to combat stress or feed the brain. It is better to get more energy by eating balanced meals throughout the day.
5. Constant presence in the office, sedentary lifestyle. The body does not receive enough sunlight.

Bring your own food. Every day.

Do you know how many calories are in the fast food you eat for lunch? Think again: a 2013 study published in the journal BMJ found that the average meal contained 836 calories. This can lead to serious weight gain.

Instead, spend a small portion of the weekend preparing meals for the entire week. Even if your lunch turns out to be 500 calories in volume, you will still save 300, and over the course of the week there will be a difference of 1,500 calories! If you work an average of 50 weeks a year, you will eat 75,000 fewer calories, which is almost 10 kg per year!

Balance your salad

Many people choose a “big salad” for lunch, but don’t limit yourself to just greens, because you will want to eat again within an hour! For a salad to be satisfying, it needs to have protein (chicken, eggs, meat) and fiber (beans, avocado). For taste, add something sweet (tomatoes, apples), spicy (garlic, olives) and appetizing (meat, cheese). There needs to be some crunch in the salad, so add some nuts or bell peppers.

Example of a healthy diet

What does a balanced diet look like in practice? For example, when for breakfast you eat protein-rich boiled eggs or an omelet or oatmeal with milk, but without sugar, yogurt without additives and whole grain bread, and wash it down with tea, water or a smoothie. For lunch, instead of cutlets, potatoes, pizza, you have a more nutritious salad, lean meat, fruit, buckwheat, cheese. And for dinner you will eat some porridge, lean meat, fruit, perhaps the same potatoes, but not fried, but boiled. The main thing is that the portion of starchy foods is small.

Loving sandwiches and sandwiches does not contradict a healthy diet. Simply replace high-calorie white bread with pita bread, whole grain or bran bread, and replace the ham with lean tuna, chicken fillet, fresh vegetables and hummus.

Remove sweets from sight

Out of sight, out of mind! Reorganize your environment. A Project M&M study conducted in New York City offices found that when office kitchens placed cookies in opaque containers and allowed healthy alternatives to sweets on shelves, people began to eat better. A similar study from the Journal of Marketing found that people overeat when they eat sweets from clear bags.

Threats of a sedentary lifestyle

The main reason is considered to be a decrease in the body’s natural defenses. All diseases that appear in humans develop because the immune system cannot cope with them on its own. With a large consumption of pills and other medications, the body’s condition only worsens - which is why many try to monitor the immune system.

If there is physical activity, a person is able to increase the level of immunity and then he simply will not need additional drugs to maintain health. Physical exercise helps to tone your body after losing weight, has a beneficial effect on your quality of life and helps you gain confidence.

Find a friend with similar interests

It’s much easier to refuse a cupcake at your accountant’s birthday if you have an understanding friend. When everyone around you is chewing sugar, you feel like there's something wrong with you, and a 2014 study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that people tend to conform at work. And if you have a like-minded person, you can at least divide the cupcake in half!

How to get rid of belly fat - 5 effective ways

If the belly hangs and the skin on it lacks elasticity, then it really looks ugly. But an unattractive appearance is not at all the main factor indicating that the problem needs to be solved. Ignoring the problem can cause disturbances in the functioning of internal organs. Is it possible to remove belly fat easily and quickly? Without harm to health and for a long time - of course not! But the following recommendations will help you get closer to your cherished goal:

• drink at least two liters of water daily. The norm is calculated approximately from the proportion of 30 milliliters per kilogram of weight;
• reduce the size of portions, try to adhere to the “plate rule”: half of the meal should be allocated to vegetables, the rest evenly to complex carbohydrates and protein, cereals and lean meats;
• engage in those sports that bring maximum satisfaction and do not cause negative emotions and physical discomfort. But you should be careful: excess weight can cause injuries during training, since the load on the joints and lower back increases significantly. Obese people should only exercise according to a program developed by weight loss specialists;
• give up bad food habits: add a lot of salt, cook with a lot of vegetable oil, fat, regularly use semi-finished products;
• give up all kinds of sweet carbonated drinks and alcohol.

Walk for 2 minutes every hour

It seems to you that you walk a lot at work, but usually such “walks” take no more than 20 seconds. Force yourself to walk for at least a minute to start (and then return to your starting point within the second minute). For what? A recent study from the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology found that walking every hour mitigated the negative effects of sitting for long periods of time.

How many calories do we spend doing normal household chores or working in the office?

Everyone knows that when we perform any activity, we burn calories. How many calories do we spend cleaning, working on a computer or driving a car? How many steps should you take per day? Expert of the Sibmeda portal - Irina Tereshchenko, pediatrician, laboratory diagnostics doctor, Ph.D.

Basic calories

The concept of “basic caloric intake” or “basal metabolic rate” or “basal metabolism” is the amount of energy that the body spends at rest. This is the energy used to maintain the existence of the body - skin, muscles, all internal organs.

With age, the level of basal metabolism decreases, which is primarily due to a decrease in the activity of the endocrine system and a slowdown in basic metabolic processes. In addition to age, they affect basal metabolism: gender – in women the level of basal calorie content is lower; height – for tall people the calorie intake is higher; the ratio of muscle and fat tissue (with the same body weight, if muscles predominate, then the basic calorie intake is higher); ambient temperature (very low and very high air temperatures speed up metabolism).

How to apply the concept of basic caloric intake in life?

First of all, you need to eat! And be sure to eat! Reducing food intake below this level can lead to serious health problems.

Secondly, you need to control your diet taking into account your age, current muscle mass, etc.

Thirdly, knowing your basic metabolism, you can easily manage your weight. One of the important mechanisms for weight management will be taking into account physical activity!

Physical fatigue is not an indicator of calorie burning

Important! Do not confuse fatigue from physical activity with psychological or mental fatigue. Most often, fatigue, bordering on exhaustion, is observed in women who do a lot of housework. It is associated with disorganization or unwillingness to delegate authority. What is burned while doing household chores? Basically, it looks like by the end of the evening, literally falling off your feet, you haven’t actually burned that many calories!

Interesting figures are presented in the tables. Please note - calorie consumption is calculated per hour of work!

If you work, be sure to analyze your “type of fatigue”; as a rule, it is associated with nervous overstrain, stress, fatigue while driving, etc. We do not take into account work that requires physical strength and endurance, but only ordinary work or study activities related to communication with people, sitting in front of a computer monitor, numerous conversations on the phone, long periods of sitting behind the wheel or in public transport.

Recruiting workload hours

Don't forget that sleep also takes up 15 kcal per hour! The body needs to do many important processes during sleep. For those who believe that they walk a lot from home to work, at work, with a child, shopping, etc. – it is necessary to record the time and intensity. To do this, you need to keep a record during the week, what kind of load (walking, running, etc.) and for what duration. Accumulate HOURS of this load and count!

A pedometer will help

If you don't like tedious recordings and calculations, then buy a high-quality pedometer. Many pedometer models calculate calories based on your height and weight, but have a significant inaccuracy. Focus on the number of steps - you need to walk at least 10,000 per day.

Moreover, this is not the norm for losing weight! This is the minimum number of steps that will help your cardiovascular system stay in good shape for many years. If you want to lose weight, then increase the number of steps and intensity. Be active and stay healthy!

Write down everything you eat and drink

This seems like a very tedious task, but will another list really bother you? If you don't have time to write down everything you eat at home, write it down the next morning at work. A Tulane University study found that people who recorded their data through phone apps lost more weight and stayed more motivated than those who used traditional fitness trackers.

Problem No. 3. Osteochondrosis

The following problems that arise from sedentary work apply equally to citizens of both sexes. Everyone knows about osteochondrosis, everyone has heard of it. This is very painful. Usually the right side of the body suffers, because the right hand lies on the mouse, holds the pen and performs other standard manipulations. I can’t say anything unexpected here. The problem with osteochondrosis can only be solved by a chiropractor. True, we also have problems with them.

Article on the topic

Osteochondrosis: types of disease, symptoms and treatment methods According to statistics, out of 10 manual therapists, only 2 actually become professionals, and the remaining 8 are ordinary hacks. So you will have to tinker with the choice. Use word of mouth, find out who helped whom and how well they helped. But just don't trust women's opinions. Our average lady, she’s like that: a boy will look at her with a soulful, inviting look, gently stroke her roundness and, along the way, praise her for something - and that’s all, the young lady is in awe.

And then she’ll call the whole neighborhood, saying, what a wonderful doctor she’s found. And the fact that after his “treatment” osteochondrosis tears her body even more with unbearable pain, she does not connect this with the doctor in any way, believing that this disease is too deep-rooted.

To this I can also add a little practical advice: while sitting at the table, do not freeze like a pillar of salt, change your body position more often, do at least primitive exercises every 15 minutes.

Analyze whether food acts as a sedative on you?

Why do you overeat when you come home from work? Because you hate her? Do you drink an extra cup of coffee when your boss is yelling at you? Analyze how work affects your eating behavior. In a study from the University of Orlando, almost a thousand respondents took part, and only 10% of people said that psychological comfort is important for weight loss. Almost 66% do not see the connection between mood and food, and therefore immediately gain weight when they lose it. People focus on the physical aspects of weight loss, such as diet or exercise. But there is also an emotional component that people often ignore.

Sport helps your stomach - as long as you don't feel sick

Due to lack of movement, not only muscles lose tone, but also internal organs: for example, the stomach and intestines. Due to sedentary work, less blood flows to them, and the organs lack nutrients.

Unlike skin and hair, fast food primarily affects the condition of the stomach. Hamburgers, shawarma and pizza contain a lot of calories and carbohydrates that the body does not have time to “burn” during sedentary work. Such foods can cause gastritis or even ulcers.

Gastroenterologist Lyudmila Yuri

“At the same time, coffee, which office workers love so much, turns out to be not so harmful. Coffee beans help remove excess bile from the body. But you shouldn’t overuse the drink, especially if you have an intestinal infection, have a stomach ache or heartburn. In this case, it is better to give up coffee before meeting with the doctor,” explains gastroenterologist Lyudmila Yuri.

To eliminate stomach problems in advance, you need to eat fast food less often and move more. Doctors especially recommend sports where the same actions are repeated: walking, running, cycling or aerobics. You should postpone training if you feel nauseous, have a stomach ache or have a fever.

If the pain and nausea do not go away for a whole day or longer, then it is better to go to the hospital. You will be examined and found out what caused the illness. Moreover, doctors do not always prescribe medications: perhaps they will ask you to talk about your diet and tell you which foods you need and which you should give up.