A sedentary lifestyle such as spending a long time in front of a laptop working, playing or bingeing on your favourite show can contribute to lots of health problems. That includes both mental and physical issues when you hardly move your body like you are supposed to. Below are the 10 Obvious Signs You Need To Move More.
1) You Are Suffering From Aching Pains
Ever find yourself experiencing everything from a stiff neck to sore shoulders and lower back pain? You can blame the chair, but the truth is, being constantly inactive isn’t going to do your body a huge favour. Your best prevention? Get up and start moving. It can be anything from a simple stretch to a brisk walk just to get your muscles and joints moving.
2) You’re Having Trouble Sleeping
Struggling to get a good night’s sleep? Or perhaps finding yourself tossing and turning on your bed? That’s because you hardly move during the day. And that also goes for if you lack exercise or physical activity. What you can do here is make a habit to exercise regularly for at least 30 minutes — a result that will improve your sleep quality in the long run.
3) There’s A Spike In Your Blood Pressure
A sedentary lifestyle can lead to hypertension a.k.a high blood pressure, which in turn, increases the risk of having a cardiovascular or heart disease. To keep your heart in a healthy working condition, it’s time to put physical movement as one of your main priorities. For instance, regular workouts such as jogging and cycling help to lower your blood pressure.
4) You Have Mood Swings
If you find yourself easily irritated and anxious most of the time, you can blame the lack of exercise or physical movement that is causing this in the first place. But you can reverse those annoying mood-swings by getting enough exercise. Here’s why: When you are working out, say jogging in the park, your body produces endorphins. In layman’s terms, that would be known as feel-good hormones.
5) You Are Suffering From Brain Fog
Can’t remember where you placed your car key? Or perhaps having trouble looking for your misplaced TV remote? Being inactive most of the time means you are basically jeopardising your brain health. And when you live a sedentary lifestyle, your blood flow decreases over time. This, in turn, leads to everything from memory declines to suffering from a poor attention span.
6) You Are Losing Breath When Climbing The Stairs
Believe it or not, a sedentary lifestyle can make your life difficult even when it comes to a daily routine. Among them happens to be climbing the stairs. Here, you might find yourself easily running out of breath and feeling like it’s a Spartan challenge for doing so. That’s the cause for being inactive. But you can overturn this by exercising regularly, which helps to improve your cardiovascular health. And by performing daily exercise, climbing the stairs on a normal day would be significantly less taxing than those who don’t.
7) You Feel Fatigued
Sitting for long periods of time is a recipe for disaster. The kind of disaster that drains your energy in the long run. And it’s not just about the dreaded afternoon slump. You’ll find yourself feeling sluggish most of the time, which in turn, doesn’t do you any good in terms of productivity. You can reach out for that hot coffee or a can of energy drink all the time. But depending heavily on these two energy-boosting beverages just to keep you alert isn’t exactly a wise thing to do. Your best bet? Get your heart pumping by — you guessed it — performing physical activities such as jogging or brisk walking.
8) You Regularly Suffer From Constipation
Having trouble with regular bowel movements? Blame it on your long sitting habits. But you can overcome the dreaded constipation problem by keep reminding yourself to stand up and move around. Take a break after hours of working or playing games on a laptop. For instance, if you are working from home, you can simply walk around the neighbourhood. Or if you are too lazy to step out of your house, learn how to do some stretching or perform yoga — both of which helps to relieve constipation.
9) Your Skin Is Taking A Hit
By taking a hit, we mean dull skin. And this happens when you are constantly inactive and can’t be bothered about sweating on a regular basis. Apparently, your skin suffers from a dull complexion due to the lack of sufficient blood flow, which is crucial for contributing the necessary oxygen and nutrients to your skin cells. Get moving no matter you are out for jogging, walking or even engaging in a sweat-inducing household chore. Your skin would thank you for it in the long run.
10) You Find Yourself Hungry All The Time
One word: ghrelin. Or in layman’s term, it refers to a type of hormone that makes you want to eat something. Too much of it can happen when you hardly exercise and always have that nonstop appetite of craving food. To help counter such a problem, it’s time to get moving. You will be doing your body a huge favour by regulating your appetite.
