Most of us spend hours sitting down every single day. In fact, in the United States, the average adult spends 6.5 hours sitting. For many of us, it’s even more time if working an office job. That’s about 40 to 50% of our time spent awake.
While it’s easy to assume that most of this time sitting is at work, it isn’t. On a typical day, it is not unrealistic to sit on more than five different surfaces, at least at some point.
If that seems high, think about a typical day. One could sit down for breakfast, sit in the car/bus/subway, at work, during lunch, in a meeting, on a couch, on a park bench, and finally in bed. That is eight different seats on a very normal day.
While some seats are just the way they are (public transportation, meeting chairs), we actually do control what we sit on most of the time.
Here are three places to consider changing or customizing your sitting experience.
Work
This is the most obvious and important one, especially in an office job. Most companies will supply a basic chair for their employees to work in. While they aren’t the worst, oftentimes they also aren’t the best.
Similar to the reasoning behind spending a good amount of money on a quality mattress, the same goes for sitting at work. Yes, it can be tough to swallow the idea of spending a few hundred dollars on a chair, especially when there is a free option there already, but it can be so worth it.
Not only will it be more comfortable, the health risks and productivity are also improved as well.
Dinner Table
The dinner table very well could be the worst surface people tend to sit on daily. For whatever reason, we’ve convinced ourselves that sitting on a piece of wood or metal for 45 minutes or more every day is a healthy practice. Sure, it may keep things a bit cleaner if food or drinks spill, but at what cost?
Getting a chair with some kind of cushion can be very beneficial for one’s health. Unlike the office chair scenario, it isn’t as crucial to have the same back support and other amenities, but even just a bit of cushion can go a long way. It is also proven that when comfortable, people tend to have longer and deeper conversations, and you guessed it, the most common place for this to occur is around the dinner table.
Recreation/Travel
Whether it’s a boat seat, a stadium bleacher, or a lounge chair, having a soft seat can make the experience better. After all, who wants to spend all that money on fun just to hurt or be uncomfortable?
Going back to the boat seat, I’ve had both good and bad experiences with seats. Traveling at high speeds and hitting waves, every bump was hurting my back and rear. In the times where the seat is basic or worn out, it actually hurts a bit and had me putting a towel down beneath me to absorb some of the shock. On the flip side, when in a comfortable supportive seat, I enjoyed the bumps and even looked forward to them.
Whether it’s taking a padded seat to the stadium, or picking out the perfect lawn chair to sit around the fire, spending time and effort on making sure the seat is comfortable and supportive can help make your recreational activity more enjoyable.
Be Aware
Not every situation is going to be convenient to improve your seating accommodation. For example, if riding the subway, there aren’t too many options. The same goes for a meeting in a conference room, or eating at a restaurant. Knowing the body and being intentional and aware is what’s most important. If that’s done, then the situations that are uncontrollable will unlikely lead to any issues since the rest of the time, the body is being taken care of.
