Lean In

     are you sitting as you read this? most likely, just as i am while posting. by now most of us are aware of how bad sitting is for us. there are many suggestions as to how to alleviate this-stand up desks, sitting on a stability ball, at a minimum getting up and walking around (if allowed where you work). but there is one simple thing that we can do right now to help our backs and its not lean in but its to lean back.
     sheryl sandberg is the ceo of facebook and wrote lean in. talk about pressure. corporate pressure. but the problem we have with our backs is often disk pressure. if we think of the pressure on our backs when standing-hopefully with good posture!-as 100%. if you lean in while sitting to 80 degrees -a very common posture- the pressure increases to 190% squeezing the disks in our lower backs. but if you lean back to 110 degrees the pressure is only about 105%, almost as low as standing. if 110 degrees is not practical try 100 degrees where the pressure is still only 115%. what is 100 degrees? think of sitting at a right angle-90%-then lean back slightly.
    so there may be good advice in the corporate world to "lean in" but good advice for your disks while sitting-lean back.