In our world today, watching endless Netflix shows, playing video games online and scrolling through loads of movies is considered normal.
It’s not too surprising that we're all sitting down a lot more. But, it turns out we're sitting way more than we used to a few years back.
This change in how we spend our time also makes us think about how it might be affecting our health, considering our bodies aren't moving as much.
Any extended sitting – such as at a desk, behind a wheel or in front of a screen — can be harmful.
Prolonged periods of sitting, whether at it's at work or home, can contribute to a variety of potential health risks, including depression, unhealthy eating patterns and cardiovascular disease.
Researchers found that those who sat for more than eight hours a day with no physical activity had a risk of dying similar to that posed by obesity and smoking.
In today's world where many of us are glued to our seats, there's a peculiar-sounding health issue that's actually quite serious: dead butt syndrome. It's a funny name, but there's nothing humorous about its effects.
Also known as "gluteal amnesia", this condition occurs when the muscles in our buttocks forget how to do their job properly due to inactivity. These muscles are crucial for things like keeping our pelvis steady and ensuring we stand tall and straight.
The fitness pros at Mirafit.co.uk, a leading fitness equipment brand, have some insights on this.
According to them, dead butt syndrome happens when our glute muscles take a prolonged nap because we're sitting for too long, not moving enougH or not engaging our muscles correctly.
The good news is that there are ways to tackle this. Effective treatment involves specific exercises designed to wake up those sleepy glutes, along with tweaking our daily routines to encourage muscle activity.
What are the signs of dead butt syndrome?
The main symptoms of dead butt syndrome to look out for are: feeling like your butt is numb, having pain that begins in your lower back or bottom and goes down your leg, feeling pain in your lower leg muscles, feeling weaker in your butt and hip muscles, having pain in your lower back and feeling pain in your knees.
How do I prevent dead butt syndrome?
Set a timer for every hour and get up and move around for a few minutes to ensure you are taking a break from a seated position.
Sit with an upright posture, which will open the hip flexors more and ease the stress on the glutes.
Add some exercises to your daily routine that will strengthen and condition the glutes and relieve any tightness in the hips.
The workout pros at Mirafit.co.uk share their favourite exercises to avoid dead butt syndrome:
Banded squats
When performing a squat, enhance the exercise by incorporating a resistance band around your knees. This movement not only strengthens the glutes, quads and hamstrings, but the band will also target the gluteus medius muscle for a more extensive workout.
Monster walk
Begin by placing a resistance band around your ankles and positioning your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart.
Proceed to take small steps forward at a slow pace. You should experience a sensation of burning and activation in the outer muscles of your glutes.
Frog glute bridges
Instead of executing a standard glute raise, maintain your feet near your glutes and position your knees outward. From this stance, lift your glutes off the floor.
This modified glute bridge increases the engagement of the outer glute muscles.
Side plank with leg raise
Position yourself into a side plank with your elbow positioned beneath your shoulders. While maintaining this stance, lift and lower your upper leg. The gluteus medius plays a vital role in this leg abduction action, in addition to stabilising the hips on the opposite side during the side plank.
Drop Lunge
To do the drop lunge, step back and cross the opposite leg over. Rotate your hips while keeping your upper body straight. Bend your knee towards the floor, then push off the front foot to return to the starting position.
This lunge variation increases hip mobility and strengthens the outer glutes and thighs.
Deadbug
Begin by lying on your back with arms extended in front of your shoulders and knees bent above your hips. Extend one arm and the opposite leg, then return to the starting position before switching sides.
This core workout strengthens the abdominal muscles and promotes proper hip alignment.