 |
| Is sitting cross-legged really not good for health? |
Are you sitting very comfortably? Stop for a moment and see how your sitting posture looks without changing sides. What are your legs doing? Is one leg crossed over the other? Are you like those people who sit with their right leg on their left leg or their left leg on their right leg?
According to the research, 62% of people sit with their right leg on left, 26% reverse it and 12% of people have no particular preference ie sometimes they sit with their left leg on right and sometimes they reverse it.
Also, people have two styles of sitting on a chair, some people sit with their whole leg over the other leg and some sit with their ankles crossed. Although sitting cross-legged feels very comfortable, doing so is bad for your health and your bones and nerves.
Let's look at some experiments for this.
Research shows that if you slouch, your hips can roll up and down and become out of balance. This can cause one hip to go up and the other to go down.
In addition, blood circulation in your lower torso is affected, which increases the risk of blood clots.
Most studies have shown that leg-crossing is worse than ankle-crossing. In fact, sitting like this can increase our blood pressure due to the pooling of blood in the veins and the heart has to work harder to avoid this.
This is why doctors or nurses ask you to keep your feet on the ground when they take your blood pressure.
Effects on the body
Experts say the longer you sit cross-legged, the more likely you are to experience long-term changes in the length of your muscles and the alignment of the bones in your pelvis (lower back).
Changes in the neck bones can cause the head position to deteriorate as our spine tries to keep the center of gravity in the middle of the body, but when we sit cross-legged, The pressure on the spine increases.
Moreover, the structure of the human body is such that sitting with legs crossed can also affect our spine and shoulders.
Apart from this, sitting like this can also affect your neck as our neck is weaker than other bones in the body.
A similar lack of balance can often be seen in the back muscles and lower back in many people, due to incorrect sitting posture.
This same imbalance is also commonly seen in the back muscles and lower back due to poor posture as well as increased stress caused by sitting cross-legged.
On the one hand, due to prolonged stretching of the gluteal (hip) muscles, our pelvis also becomes misaligned, which means that the hips become weak.
Similarly, sitting cross-legged for long periods increases the risk of scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and other disorders.
In addition, many people are more prone to 'trochanteric pain syndrome' or persistent pain in the outer part of the hip and thigh.
Research shows that sitting cross-legged can put pressure on the peroneal nerve or large vein in the lower leg and risk injury. This often manifests as weakness in the big toe and improper foot placement on the ground.
Although in most people this condition is short-lived and your peroneal nerve returns to normal after a few minutes, sometimes it can last for a longer period.
There is also evidence that sitting cross-legged can also affect sperm production in men. This is because the temperature of the testicles must be two to six degrees Celsius higher than normal body temperature.
But sitting increases testicle temperature by 2 degrees Celsius and sitting cross-legged increases testicle temperature by 3.5 degrees Celsius.
Various studies have shown that increased testicular temperature often reduces both sperm count and fertility.
Remember that because of the physical differences between men and women, it's easier for women to sit cross-legged, especially since men can't move their hips as much.
Are there any benefits of sitting cross-legged?
Research also suggests that sitting cross-legged can be beneficial for some people.
For example, a small 2016 study found that for people with one leg longer than the other, sitting cross-legged helped balance the height of both sides of the hip. can be found It also reduces the problem in their spine.
Sitting cross-legged makes certain muscles work less, especially the muscles inside your skin that are closer to the hips. This relaxes some of your core muscles and doesn't overexert them.
Similarly, cross-legged sitting can cause scrotal ((joints that transfer weight between the spine and legs) to help keep them in place.
And there's no doubt that the popular yoga technique of sitting in a meditative position is said to be very beneficial for your joints.
Not much research has been done on whether long periods in this yoga position can cause the same problems as sitting cross-legged in a chair.
However, yoga is very beneficial for many people, even those who already suffer from knee problems.
So what happened to the last thing? Is sitting cross-legged more harmful or beneficial?
If you can sit without crossing your legs, it's probably better. That's true, but research also shows that many of the problems associated with sitting cross-legged are related to other things, such as our lifestyle, and sitting all the time. So don't live, and how much we weigh.
One thing we should take care of though is not to sit in one position for too long and keep moving.