Your sofa is your worst enemy

Don’t worry, I’m not going to start reviewing stuff from Ikea in this blog. I still didn’t get that mad. Not yet, at least.

What I’m going to share with you on this post can be quite shocking at first, and a bit difficult to believe.

I have recently discovered that the sofa at our home, that lovely and cosy-as-hell piece of furniture we all have at our place, that essential part which we seem to be unable to live without..., is also our biggest enemy.

We sit there when reading a book, when watching our favourite TV series, when we want to be doing literally nothing and when chatting with friends and family (online, of course). We may eat while sitting there and also use it, back on those days when we had some family member coming to visit, as the perfect place to sleep.

The sofa.

Along with the fridge, is the only thing you need to have when moving to a new flat or house. What if there’s no bed, or table or chair? Who needs all those spare stuff when you can do everything on the sofa?

But be aware as those dangerous creatures (sofas, that is) will be calling you like those gorgeous sirens from Greek mythology, who were always attracting the sailors with enchanting music and sweet singing voices, to shipwreck on their rocky coast of their island. That’s right. Even though you may not be aware of that, you have been a victim of your sofa from the very beginning. You are probably enjoying the sweetness of its comfort when reading this.

Now, let me tell you a secret.

-whispering voice-

You are not safe there!

-end of whispering voice-

It is believed that the history of the sofa goes as far back as to ancient Egypt, according to the discovery made by archaeologist Howard Carter, when entered the tomb of King Tutankhamun on 26th November 1922. Among many treasures, he found a number of royal couches and other items of furniture that had been specifically made for the spirit of the dead King. So as you can see, this lovely piece of furniture was originally created for the royalty and their royal ass. From there, Romans improved the design and later on Germans and French would come up with some great ideas for cosy materials for the filling and stitching techniques until getting the many different types we can enjoy nowadays.

You may call it a couch, settee, love bed, divan, sofa bed, canape, studio couch, day bed or just sofa. And you may find it in many shapes and sizes, all of them more or less comfortable for your ass’s liking. How wonderful and entertaining is to go to Ikea for couch-hunting! So many of them, with different colours and materials, all calling you like crazy so you may lay there and forget about everything...and that’s exactly how you are caught in the trap!

See, until recently I was as confident as you with my sofa. I was kindly meeting it every morning and I could enjoy our close relationship throughout the entire day. I used to enjoy its comfort all day long. Or at least that was until that moment when my ass was sore. Because it’s impossible to be sitting all day and not feeling the consequences of that.

It was then that I started to think of an alternative way of spending my time at home. So what if instead of sitting on the sofa doing so many things, I try to do all that while standing? The idea doesn’t sound very attractive, I know, but allow me to give you just a few benefits from standing when working or using your laptop and so many other activities.

• Standing reduces de risk of weight gain and obesity.

• Lowers the risk of heart disease and many other types of chronic disease.

• Can reduce your blood sugar levels by 34%.

• Lowers long-term mortality risk.

• It can help ease or reduce chronic back pain.

• Helps increase energy levels and improves mood.

• Standing while working boosts productivity.

• Helps strengthen your muscles.

I can guess what you are thinking. What a bunch of rubbish! Well, not quite. According to my personal experience of nearly a month standing pretty much all day at home, I can confirm some of those statements mentioned above as absolutely true. From the very first day that I started giving up on my lovely cosy sofa, I could feel a huge improvement in three main points. Productivity, muscle tone and back pain.

I consider myself quite a lucky man for many reasons, being one of them the fact that I don’t have a worrying mind. I don’t normally overthink about things, I’m not stressed, tense or anything like that. Which means I can relax quite easily. So no matter what I do, and as long as I’m sitting on the sofa, I know I’m going to fall asleep sooner or later. And that’s something quite annoying, believe me. I can be reading my favourite book ever and fall asleep after say, 30 minutes of reading. Or I can be watching the most interesting movie, TV show or documentary and doze off in the most interesting part. That’s the problem when you have a peaceful mind and a comfy place where to put your ass; you just fall on the cosy arms of Morpheus.

So far I still haven’t fallen asleep while standing so there goes the improvement in productivity.

Everybody knows by now how challenging can be keeping oneself in good shape during a lockdown. Be careful what you eat, do some daily exercises at home, go for a walk or for a run perhaps. All that is fine but not so simple to stick with. It’s so easy just to forget about everything and enjoy the homey environment while reading, watching something on Netflix and so on, right? Mostly when its cold and miserable outside, while you feel warm and comfy at home. Yes, of course, and then is when you put some weight on without noticing where the hell that came from.

While standing I can feel how I strengthen my feet, ankles and legs muscles, and most importantly, my core muscles. And here is where I go to the last main improvement.

Since a while ago I’ve been suffering quite a bit from lower back pain. While doing daily stretches and exercises helps to improve and strengthen the area, the pain, although reduced, is more or less there. And I could feel my lower back issue getting worse after so much time sitting on the sofa.

It took just a couple of days standing for me to notice a great improvement. I feel my back muscles much stronger so the discomfort I could always feel on my lower back is pretty much gone.

For just these few reasons I can’t stop myself from recommending you to try this new way of working and doing pretty much anything at home and at your workplace. You may struggle the first few days but after a week or so, you will see the benefits.

Go and find a nice table or surface where to put your laptop, so you can work in a comfortable position. If you can’t find anything appropriate enough at home, you may find what you need on Amazon or eBay. Nowadays they sell quite good stands for laptops at such a wide variety of shapes and prices that you can’t miss the perfect one for you.

Now listen to this awesome song by R.E.M. and ‘stand’. 😉.