Did you know that sitting for long hours can affect the circulation of blood in your body? It can, and this should be a serious health concern if you sit for many hours. To help you counteract the potential negative effects of long periods of sitting, I will tell you some of the highly recommended exercises that you can engage in to enhance your cardiovascular system.
1. Walking
Walking is by far one of the easiest exercises you can engage in to effectively enhance blood circulation after seating for long periods of time. After sitting for over two hours or more, it is highly recommended that you get up and stretch your legs by taking a few steps around. This will spontaneously restore the normal pattern of blood flow in your body.
2. Seated spinal twist
This exercise is said to be a restorative pose that has its origin from yoga, and unlike the former, with this exercise you don’t need to get up as it is designed to be done while sitting down. The first thing to do is to ensure that both your feet are flat on the floor and then attempt to elongate your spine as you inhale and exhale. After this, cross your right leg over your left leg and progressively twist the lower part of your body towards the left, let the twist stretch as far as it can, then repeat again, this time crossing your left leg and twisting towards the right.
3. Hand swings
This exercise will specifically increase blood circulation in the upper part of your body. So to get started, while standing with your feet shoulder width-apart, stretch out your hands and swing forward as though you are holding an imaginary skipping rope. After 60 seconds, repeat the same thing but this time swinging backwards.
4. Try the frogger exercise (squats)
This move does not only enhance blood circulation, it also helps to strengthen the muscles around your thighs (that may have been weakened as a result of sitting for long). To do this exercise you just need to stand with your feet slightly more than hip-width apart, slightly bend your knees (as though descending), and cross your arms in front of your chest, while your back remains straight. Then descend till your thighs are almost parallel to the floor and ascend. Repeat for as many times as you can.
5. Push-ups
Last on the list are push-ups; now, while push-ups remain a strength exercise, they are also an effective means to enhance blood circulation in your body as they help to expand your chest muscles, which hosts the central organs of your cardiovascular system (lungs and heart). So to start with, get down in a plank position with your feet on the floor, your back straight and your hands bent outwards on the floor. Now raise your upper body by straightening your arms and descend by bending your hands. Repeat this motion as many times as you can.
