Sit smarter, not harder: Scott Donkin at TEDxLincoln

Oh Oh Scott Duncan is it internationally published author chiropractor and consultant who's been in business in Lincoln for over 30 years he says it's sitting too long or too wrong causes enormous human pain and suffering but he says that if we shift sitting to a daily positive experience well that's not only a viable goal but it's essential to our future well-being so get comfortable well no probably sit up straight sit up everybody I don't know whatever let's find out please welcome Scott Duncan smoking or sitting which is worse smoking this cigarette has shown to be so unhealthy for us that it's forbidden to light it in this or any other public building in Lincoln smoking this cigarette can shorten your life by eight minutes now sitting has been compared to smoking as the new killer among us silent killer sitting for an hour can take away as much of your life of smoking the cigarette well there are many differences between smoking and sitting there are some striking similarities one is that both smoking and sitting can slowly suffocate you and I'm serious about this go ahead and set for me thank you take a nice breath in let it out good breathe in deeper down and out great notice the ease at which you're able to breathe air in and out now slump forward for me it's okay right take a breath in let it out now breathe in a little deeper and out okay would you probably notice that it was more difficult to breathe air in when you were some forward that's because your diaphragm was blocked from pulling air into your lungs so thereby slowly suffocating just like a cigarette would smoking and sitting are both habits I like to think of a habit as a helpful or harmful automatic behavior increasing over time let me tell you the effect that habits can have on you and others this is an old photograph it was taken in 1942 it's of my father he was a very gifted athlete in fact he mastered many sports he was voted one of the outstanding athletes of the century in South Dakota between 1861 and 1961 he was a pilot in World War two and he soared he developed along the way some habits harmful habits smoking him on them over the course of time his habits slowly degenerated his life until he died prematurely at the age of 49 and contrast this with Charlie a patient of mine Charlie was 12 years old when my dad was 18 Charlie wasn't bestowed the physical gifts that my dad was but he acquired habits along the way just like we all do he acquired helpful habits Charlie became a long-haul truck driver and over the course of his long career he drove millions of miles today at this day he's 83 years old and he drives a truck because he loves to him because he can now being in practice for 30 years as a chiropractor I've seen many truck drivers whose bodies are wreck the difference is the habits that they've acquired over time time will magnify your habits so how do we develop the habits in the first place I think it stems to when we were born and even before you see I believe that we were born brilliant we were born with the innate brilliance to be able to eat and poop and cry and laugh and smile and COO and learn about the world around us we can light up a room and we can sit brilliantly we're also born vulnerable we are totally dependent on others for nourishment security protection and to learn and grow we learn we absorb our environment like a sponge and we learn by what other people say and what they do we adopt that as our own because that becomes our belief system when sitting years ago generations ago when we began to sit we didn't live as long and then we didn't sit as much so sitting sloppy sitting was okay now we live much longer and sit much more in fact for someone living a long life you can sit for as long as 32 years how you do it has a pivotal role in the quality of your health so keep in mind since we have this system of believing about sitting that is we need to change now we have to keep in mind what Albert Einstein said he said we could not solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them we have to think differently in order to solve the problem we have at hand this reminds me of another patient his name we'll call him Dave Dave had been coming in for treatment for his lower back and who's going to get results and he was preparing for a trip with his family and friends to Canada he was very excited about going to Canada but he wasn't very excited about the fact that he usually had an episode of low back pain when he went on this trip because of sitting in the boat on the lake fishing I said Dave do you want to change that outcome and he said sure I said well you have to change two things you have to change the way you think about sitting and then you have to change the way you said I think if you can do those two things you can change your outcome so we went through some things that we're going to go through today he came back after strip and he C was thrilled to tell me that he really enjoyed the whole trip even the time on the lake with the boat and thoroughly enjoyed fishing that day there's a big difference between the way we sit now and the way we need to sit in the future so anybody want to change their life today yeah okay good will change the way we sit so Jan okay thank you our bodies were designed brilliantly we were designed to work with gravity not against it our body has a natural curve in the lower back going inward a natural counterbalancing curve in the mid-back and then again a curve forward in the neck this is like a spring that helps us work with gravity this is the ideal optimum position for both standing and sitting go ahead and have a seat now thank you now if I put my hand right here this is the the curve that should be restored while you're sitting okay so this is a good fit for any chair or seat that you're sitting rather be your car your office chair your kitchen chair or your sofa the default mechanism for sitting though tends to be the rock back position which is slumping creating a cascade of problems that we've only touched on so far now that when the hip and pelvis goes vertical this is a position that's normally called the meditators position it's a very delightful position but not far enough for our seed activities right there there's a lip on the bone that you're sitting on that when you cross over it you come up and the shoulders come up over the hips the shoulder blades come back automatically in the head comes up this is called the tipping point okay so this is mindless this is aware that is awake it's an aha moment for everybody that experiences it and it's one that is seldom forgotten you have an opportunity from that time forward to change the way your sit and also the outcome of your life so go ahead and lean up there you know that's the tipping point so Jan since we've been working together you've been helping me prepare for the TEDx Lincoln event which I really appreciate and during that time I've been able to share with you the principles of sitting smarter you remark the other day when we were here together that you have much much less back pain and sciatica now because of applying sitting smart that's great see that's thrilling for me because we haven't known each other that long I saw her apply the principles even when she didn't know I was watching and that is an outcome that I see over and over and over and over again people absolutely can transform their lives by changing to the tipping point now one thing that people imagine right away is that oh my gosh there's a lot of the seats I sin that don't fit me so this is very important for you to get now put your hands together like this okay look at your thumbs it looked like a good match don't they but look at that gap there if you have a gap there then and you're sitting your body willing to intuitively try to fill that gap by something this is a good fit slide one thumb down that is a good fit good match good fit we're so used to looking at chairs that match the environment that we don't look through them to see what a good fit is so we keep in mind good match good fit another thing to keep in mind is that a chair no matter what chair even this chair has just five dimensions has a height a width a depth contour and a density that happens to be the same dimensions that our body has now if we're sitting in a chair that doesn't fit then we're going to be deforming our bodies into that chair and even if that's the case whether it be a park bench or a sofa at home you have to know the other principle which is unwinding Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man I like to call him the open man this position is holds in at the antidote for sitting the shoulders and arms are in opens position the hips and legs are open and the head is up this is an open position that you need to return to regularly if you're going to be able to maintain a healthy structure from the back the shoulder blades are together the head is up and back and the back is extended that's a beautiful position and it's in accord with the way the body is designed you need to unwind regularly in order to have a healthy seated life because you see sitting is halfway down to the fetal position I've seen far too many people whose minds and bodies have crumbled because of the poor habits that they've acquired you have an opportunity now to tip sitting in your favor and make this a strength instead of a weakness you see the cigarette isn't the killer it's smoking that is the seat isn't the killer it's how you sit in advance you have an opportunity to make sitting a harmful habit or a helpful have it it's up to you it's that simple to start this is a picture of my son sitting brilliantly we were all there once are you there down if you are great keep doing what you're doing if you're not work to restore your bridge do four things tip sitting in your favor use the tipping point unwind regularly breathe deeply and often look through the good matches that you see into a good fit it's that important it's pivotal in your life and the lives of those around you so my challenge to you is do this it's up to you and you can sit smarter not harder thank you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 134,993

Rating: 4.8342247 out of 5

Keywords: tedx talk, ted talks, education, medicine, TEDxLincoln, ted x, TEDx, ergonomic, ted talk, lifestyle, English, Scott Donkin, United States, sitting posture, tedx talks, ted, posture, correct sitting, tedx

Id: ksIH7nNXjhI

Length: 12min 26sec (746 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 20 2013