Between sitting at our desks all day during work, resting our legs on the commute home and then slumping down on the couch for endless hours to watch some crap TV, we spend a lot of time sat on our backsides.
Hey – it’s a free country, so you can plonk yourself where you like.
But after considering the health impacts that taking a seat too frequently can have on you, you might fancy taking a leaf out of this lad’s book.
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Many of us spend a lot of our time on our backsides. (Getty Stock Image)
Lucas B – better known as ‘pigmie’ on YouTube – decided to take a stand against this sitting epidemic by…taking a stand.
He attempted to stay planted firmly on his feet for an entire week, rather than just a few hours.
The US content creator, who describes himself as a ‘self-certified stuntman and mediocre actor’, is something of a fitness fanatic who enjoys setting himself bizarre challenges which push his body to the limit.
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He’s trained in a weight suit for a month, used a ‘get taller chair’ for 10 days and ‘survived’ the lion diet for 72 hours before now, so you’d think standing up for seven days straight would be a doddle.
But Lucas ended up some noticing some shocking results by the end of his experiment – as well as being left with a pair of really, really achy pins.
Lucas set himself the tough challenge of not sitting down for an entire week. (YouTube/pigmie)
He was inspired to take on the standing challenge after coming across a shocking study which explained that one in four Americans were spending more than 9.5 hours a day sat down.
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You don’t need to be a genius to work out that it’s a lot of time to be off your feet.
For Lucas, that sounded like his worst nightmare, so he pledged to try and stay stood upright for a seven day period, even when going to the toilet or travelling in a car… which is no easy feat.
The only relief he was allowed from being vertical 24/7 was when he went to sleep, as he would allow himself to lie down in bed – but for the rest of the day, he was stood up straight.
The YouTuber made good use of his time and didn’t really mind eating, working out and completing household chores while stood up, although he gave himself a bit of a break by leaning on things.
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The YouTuber used a standing desk to work, but began to really struggle by day three of the experiment. (YouTube/pigmie)
Lucas then created a makeshift standing desk to keep him upright while he was working, in anticipation for one that he’d ordered from Amazon to arrive…and this is the point where his commitment was really tested.
His urge to flop down on the sofa and put his feet up grew stronger and stronger as the days went on, but he really hit the wall on day three.
Lucas complained of feeling a ‘constant need to stretch’ that had even started disrupting his sleep, while the aching in his legs had become unbearable.
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On day five, the fitness lover had to throw in the towel as he simply couldn’t keep it up any longer – and when you see the before-and-after snaps he took of himself, you will understand what impact standing all that time had on his body.
The before-and-after snaps speak for themselves. (YouTube/pigmie)
“In only five days, look at this slouch when I stand,” Lucas said while pointing out a curvature in his spine, before moving on to assess his limbs.
“I can see that my hamstrings are still kind of tight which is fighting a little bit with my glutes,” he added.
Lucas said that he had noticed a lot more kyphosis in the after shot, which the NHS explains is a ‘curvature of the spine that causes the top of the back to appear more rounded than normal’.
As well as this, he spotted some lordosis, which is a curving of the lower back and buttocks like a pelvic tilt.
Speaking to his subscribers, Lucas said: “If I continue doing this for a long period of time, that is obviously not good. “That’s going to form really bad posture and maybe lead to back problems. It looks like I’m starting to really form this slouched over position, especially in the upper back.
“But there is another reason I want to end this right now – and that is my hip and my knees are starting to ache in a way that’s more than just muscular pain – it kind of feels like an aching, dull joint pain.”
However, Lucas said that overall, it had been a ‘great experience’ and explained that he’d also noticed some positive results after standing up for five days.
The YouTuber claimed to have felt a ‘30% productivity boost’ when working at his standing desk, but the best benefit he noticed was a drastic improvement in his digestion.
It seems the only way forward is to find that happy medium between standing and sitting.
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/pigmie
Topics: Health, YouTube, Weird, Science
