A few weeks ago we posted about the benefits of varying posture throughout the day to avoid sitting for too long and prevent “sitting disease”. It is a widely known fact these days that a sedentary lifestyle is unhealthy, but the prevalence of office jobs and computer use makes sitting for long hours difficult for many of us to avoid. Sometimes standing can be a solution, but there are still times when you need to sit. One way to make sitting healthier by strengthening your back and core muscles is to sit on an exercise ball (also referred to as a yoga ball, balance ball or stability ball).

When you sit on an exercise ball, your body constantly makes small adjustments with the postural, abdominal, gluteal and leg muscles. This results in better posture and “active sitting” rather than the slumping we often develop even while sitting in expensive ergonomic desk chairs.

When selecting an exercise ball for sitting it is important to make sure that you get the right size ball. The ideal ball sitting position is to have your thighs sloping downwards just slightly from the hip to the knee rather than your thighs being parallel to the floor, and the ball should not be so tall that you end up balancing on your wrists at the keyboard. Exercise balls are typically measured in centimeters according to the following sizes:

55 cm – for height range 4’11” – 5’4″

65 cm – for height range 5’5″ – 5’11”
75 cm – for height range 6’0″ – 6′ 7″

Also it is important not to over inflate an exercise ball especially when using it for sitting. When you sit on the ball your body weight should create a small seat. This provides better stability and allows you to sit evenly on the ball.

When you first start sitting on a ball, you should begin with short periods of 20-30 minutes and build up your time gradually to see how you feel. Most health and fitness experts agree that it is advisable to alternate periods between ball and chair sitting rather than sit on a ball all day

When you have a ball it is easy to roll back from your desk and do a few stretches and core exercises such as ab crunches. This short video from the Web MD archives shows some simple exercises you can do using the ball at your office.

While many people prefer sitting on a stability ball directly on the floor, I like using mine with the Gaiam Balance Ball Chair. It has rolling, lockable caster wheels that make it easy while sitting to slide into different locations and it keeps the ball from rolling around unintentionally.

These days stability balls aren’t just for they gym. Many people have discovered that sitting on balance balls helps improve their posture and allows some relief for restless limbs while still getting work done. We would love to hear your favorite techniques for staying productive and healthy while sitting!