What everyone gets wrong about exercise.

You have heard a million times that 15 minutes of daily exercise will be your passport to a long and healthy life. But this weekly yoga or daily short jog might make little difference to how you feel.

Why? Well, everything depends on what you do with the remaining hours: from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep.

All the benefits of your most diverse and attuned exercise can get reversed if you don't pay attention to your body throughout your day.
The stiffness or pain can return if you keep staying in one posture, immobile, for hours.
Or if you keep going through the same repetitive movements day in, day out.

You might say: this is not my choice. I can't change my job.

Let's break it down into what is and what is not your choice on the example of an office job.

You don't work all the time. And it's you who decides on your leisure time.
If you were sitting at the desk all day long, and then sat on the metro, on the bus or in the car and you come back home to drop on the couch, you're not doing yourself any favours.

I don't expect you to come home knackered and start running or lifting weights.
But how about sitting on the ground as you watch the telly? Or lying down with legs straight up against the wall for a while? That already makes a huge difference!

There are many options other than sitting with your legs and hips at 90 degrees with your back supported or lying flat down on your back.

2. Posture
It's not so much about the correct posture as about changing the posture. Sitting stiff as if you swallowed a stick, pulling the shoulders down is just as bad as slumping. Seriously. And will get you to that collapsed slump eventually, it's just so much unnecessary effort for your muscles.

Readjust. Shift the posture. Stand up from time to time. Whatever you do, make sure you MOVE. Micro-movements count!

3. Micropauses
OK, you have to work 8 hours a day. But how about micro-pauses?
If possible, take a 5-minute break every hour.

If you're at the office, here's what you can do:
Stand up.
Stretch and yawn.
Take off the shoes and play with your toes.
Or even just take your gaze off the screen and look into a distance

If you work from home, there are no limits to what you can do.
Jump, bounce, squat, dance... Or simply stand up and go for water or tea.

I promise your body will be grateful and your brain will work better, too.

4. Do things differently
If you commute by public transport, try not holding on to any handles and practice your balance. If you're tired, opt for leaning rather than sitting.

If you work from home, you choose how you sit.
You can sit on a huge pilates ball.
Or on a kneeling chair.
Or – like me – on the ground, as you work on your laptop.

Whatever you do, try unusually moving your body.

Walk backwards. Use the mobile with the left hand (or right if you're left-handed). Stir a pot or reach to the cupboard with a non-habitual hand. Sweep the floor in a squatting position.

If you have children or grandchildren, you have an upper hand! You can play with them and go down to the floor level without feeling judged or feeling silly.


5. Notice

But most of all, notice.
Where is your body in space?
Is your head hanging much in front of your torso?
Are your muscles doing an extra job they don't need to?
Can you release that squeeze in the buttocks, soften the belly, and separate the teeth?

Do it hundreds of times a day. Those subconscious habits and unnecessary holding patterns are the real culprits that cause discomfort and pain.