Stretch goals at the office

Stretching is the process of putting particular parts of the body into a position that will lengthen or elongate the muscles and associated tissues. The Healthy Back Store recognizes the importance of stretching as it relates to one’s health and fitness, especially in our increasingly sedentary lives. Sitting at a desk and in front of computer monitors for long hours each day can affect one’s health and has a serious impact on the body’s flexibility, even for individuals who exercise regularly.

By undertaking a regular stretching regimen a number of changes begin to occur within the body and specifically within the muscles themselves. A regular stretching routine can produce the following benefits:

• Reduced muscle tension (stress relief)
• Increased range of movement in the joints
• Enhanced muscular coordination
• Increased circulation of the blood to various parts of the body
• Increased energy levels (resulting from increased circulation)

There are a number of stretches that you can do while at your desk including:

• Touch the Sky: Reach your arms up to the sky and as far back as you can safely go. You can try grasping like you’re trying to reach the stars.
• Side Stretch: While standing, reach your one arm over head and to the opposite side. You can keep the other hand on your hip or in the air.
• Touch Your Toes: Take off your shoes if you can. Wiggle your toes. Bend at the hip and reach for your toes. Bending your knees is OK.
• Shoulder Opener: Lean your palms against the wall above your head and bending at the hip to stretch out your shoulders and back.

While stretching can be done at the desk, the Healthy Back Store also suggests incorporating ergonomic furniture or accessories into the office to help alleviate many of the pains associated with sitting all day. At the Healthy Back Store you’ll find executive chairs with built in lumbar support to maintain proper spinal alignment and task chairs with recline action, contoured cushions, responsive backrests. These chairs provide ergonomic support while promoting movement, allowing you to stretch comfortably. Even something as small as a footrest reminds you to sit all the way back in your chair, allowing the chair to take some of the strain and stress off of your back.

Tips for better sleep

Do you have trouble going to sleep or staying asleep? Do you wake up tired and feel like you have to nap during the day? Even with a top-of-the-line memory foam or latex mattress, sleep can still be difficult for a number of reasons such as stress and poor day-to-day habits. Whatever it is, bad sleep does more than just make you tired; it aversely affects your health and cognitive capacity.

Fortunately, there are numerous methods to improve your sleep that are simple, easy, and do not involve a prescription.

Try out these suggestions and start experiencing a deeper, more fulfilling nights sleep.

• Try to keep a regular sleep pattern by habitually going to bed and waking at the same time every day‚ even on weekends and vacations. After some time, your body will naturally get accustomed to your sleep cycle and it will become easier to have a good nights rest.
• Avoid consuming caffeine and alcohol in the late afternoon and evening. Coffee, soft drinks, chocolate, and medications that contain caffeine stimulate your body and mind and can keep you from falling asleep and sleeping soundly. Even though alcohol can make you feel sleepy, drinking around bedtime can also disturb sleep.
• Regular daytime exercise can improve nighttime sleep, but since it too can be stimulating and keep you up, avoid exercising within 3 hours of bedtime.
• Avoid daytime naps, which can skew your body’s notion of sleep and thus interfere with nighttime sleep. If you feel you cannot get by without a nap, set an alarm for 1 hour or less and get up immediately when it goes off.
• Reserve your bed for sleeping. Your body and mind need to associate your bed with healthy sleep, and watching late news, reading a suspense novel, or working on your laptop in bed can keep you up later than expected and stimulate your mind, making it hard to fall asleep. If you want to perform late night activities in bed, try utilizing a backrest or leg rest to put your body in an optimal position for comfort and health.
• Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and cool. There are specialized mattresses available, such as our Healthy Back Pure Latex line, which are designed to cool your body a crucial few degrees if you get too hot during the night.
• Sleep with a ‘Hot Water Bottle’. This method, popular in the United Kingdom and Europe, provides comfort and warmth in your bed, and can help alleviate sore joints and muscles. The Hotties Micro Hottie is the market leader for hot water bottle type products, and is available at the Healthy Back Store.
• Avoid liquids and spicy meals before bed. Heartburn and late night trips to the bathroom are not conducive to good sleep.
• Instead of working right up to bedtime, try performing relaxing activities such as listening to soft music or taking a warm bath to get you ready to sleep. These processes help your body and mind wind down from a hectic day, and a warm bath also may soothe aching muscles.

Rock your office like a BOSS

Find comfort in your office... like a BOSS. Classic tall back executive style and presence never felt so good! Imposing height, ergonomic comfort - perfect for directing your minions. We bring you : The Presider, learn more here. or buy it here.

New July 4th catalog is out!

July 4th is just around the corner. Visit our special holiday page on HealthyBack.com for specials and to see our new catalog online. Highlights include the incredible new Yu-Me rocking massage chair and the new Bliss latex bed collection with Celsion - the latest in cool sleeping technology.

Turn back pain on its head!

Inversion tables can reduce pressure on the spinal discs and nerve roots - This allows discs to recover lost moisture and to return to their original shape, decreasing the painful pressure they can exert on nerves. Healthy Back carries a wide range of professional grade inversion tables and accessories.

Robots are practicing Shiatsu

Shiatsu massage therapy originating in Japan. Practitioners promoted it as a "natural" way to help people relax and cope with issues such as stress, muscle pain, nausea, anxiety, and depression. Incredibly, modern massage machines are becoming quite adept at this complex technique.


Win a Teeter Inversion table

Batman knows how to cure lower back pain. Hang upside down. Inversion tables allow you do just that - Safely. The natural decompression can allow more fluid to flow between your vertebrae and reduce tension. Learn more and view HealthyBack's complete selection of inversion tables here - and enter to win a free Teeter EP-550 sport inversion table here.

Sleeping on horsehair is extremely expensive...

The Vividus bed by the design firm Hastens is the most expensive mattress in the world retailing for a cool $49,500. Each bed is hand crafted with an oak frame and contains horsehair wool and cotton and takes over a week to construct. We're biased of course - But we think that our beds are a little more reasonable in the comfort to value equation (not to mention - hypoallergenic *cue horse whinny*)!

Happy Memorial Day - 10 Tips to avoid back strain

10 tips for a healthy back, this Memorial Day weekend!

1. Exercise your back regularly. Walking, swimming (especially backstroke) and bicycling are all excellent ways to strengthen your back muscles.

2. Always bend your knees and your hips, not your back.

3. Never twist and bend at the same time.

4. Always lift and carry objects close to your body.

5. Try to carry loads in an back friendly bag.

6. Maintain a good posture. Avoid slumping in your chair, hunching over a desk or walking with your shoulders hunched.

7. Use a chair with proper ergonomic support. Sit with your feet flat on the floor or on a footrest. Change how you sit every few minutes. (Check out yesterday's post on SLAM).

8. Don't smoke. It is thought that smoking reduces the blood supply to the discs between the vertebrae and this may lead to degeneration of these discs.

9. Lose any excess weight. Use our Healthy weight calculator to find out if you're a healthy weight for your height.

10. Choose a mattress and pillows suited to your height, weight, age and sleeping position.