I have been having a bit of a problem lately with headaches, neck aches, and sore shoulders at work.  While I’m sure that the stress of being a single mom to 3 during the holidays has added to it significantly I also think it has a lot to do with having a desk job.  Sitting at a computer 40 hours a day can’t be good for me!  So of course here I am at home sitting at a computer, but whatever….

I mentioned last week that I decided to join a ‘Just 1 Thing‘ challenge for this year, which asks you to chose one thing to work on for your health at a time.  My one thing for the moment is getting back to daily yoga.  Since tonight I came home with especially sore and stiff shoulders I decided to look for a practice that focused on this area.

I found this video on Do Yoga With Me’s YouTube channel  and it is wonderful for getting a good stretch throughout the neck and shoulders.  I had forgot how great it feels to do 30 minutes of yoga that just focuses on relaxation!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3lQQieptsI&w=560&h=315] If you work on a computer all day another thing you can do to help is to give yourself hourly reminders to stand up, roll your shoulders and shake out your hands, or just to sit up straighter.  I created an hourly pop up message reminding me to sit up straighter because it seems that as soon as I stop thinking about it I’m slouching in my chair again.

If you think that an hourly reminder would be helpful to you too it’s easy enough to add a reminder to your computer.  Here is an explanation on how to set it up.

Do you have a desk job?  If so how do you combat the effects of sitting 40 hours a week?