If your back and neck feel sore after a long day at your work desk, there’s a high chance you aren’t stretching your muscles enough. Remember, humans aren't built to sit down for 6-8 hours a day. Our bodies are built to stay active, run around, and exercise.
With that said, modern human life is very different from ancient human life. And while our existence isn’t focused on hunting and exercising, it’s still a good idea to stretch and work out your muscles from time to time.
And luckily, stretching your neck (one of the most important parts of your body) is incredibly important. You're in for a huge treat if you’ve never tried neck stretches before.
Keep reading to learn how neck stretches can improve how you feel when working a desk job and some ways you can stretch your neck when working long days sitting down.
How Do Neck Stretches Help When Working a Desk Job?
There are tons of ways neck stretches can benefit people who work a desk job. Nowadays, desk jobs are very common, and we are now spending hours every day just sitting down and staring at a computer. Granted, this still takes a lot of brainpower which is why we feel drained at the end of the day. However, it can mean a lot of trouble for your neck.
This is why you need to make sure to stand up every hour or so and stretch your neck in different ways. This can offer a range of different health benefits, such as:
Reduce Stress & Tension
One of the biggest benefits that neck stretches can offer people working desk jobs is stress reduction. You may not notice it, but the muscles in your neck can tense up when looking at a screen and sitting at a desk all day. And this tension can contribute a lot to your own personal stress, which is something we all want to avoid.
Stress and tension can lead to a lot of problems. Aside from damaging our mental health, stress can even weaken our immune system, leaving us more vulnerable to sickness. But the simple act of stretching your neck every few hours can release a lot of this tension in your muscles, allowing us to feel refreshed throughout the day.
If you feel tired and don’t want to work in the middle of the day, you could just need a good stretching session to give you the boost you need. It only takes five minutes and can drastically improve how you feel throughout the day.
Improve Circulation
There are certain neck exercises and stretches designed to help improve circulation in your body. Poor circulation can lead to a lot of problems, and sitting at a desk increases the chances of poor circulation. But if you stretch your neck, you give your body a chance to improve your circulation, which makes you feel better when sitting down at work.
On top of that, neck stretches sometimes require you to stand up for a bit. When you do this, you allow more blood to circulate to your legs as well. Since our body isn’t designed to sit down for long periods of time, we need to stand up for a couple of minutes if we’ve been sitting down for a while to avoid circulation issues.
And if you just happen to be at the office, find out how you can start working out while you work.
Reduce Pain
Lots of adults who work desk jobs suffer from back and neck pain. Aside from being very painful, back and neck pain can get in the way of our daily tasks and bring down our quality of life, productivity, and focus.
Back pain can cause us to be less active, which isn’t something you want if you’re looking to stay healthy while working a desk job. A couple of 5-minute stretches throughout the day can greatly reduce back and neck pain that comes from sitting down on a desk all day, which is why we highly recommend doing it.
Improve Posture
It’s very important to have good posture. However, when we sit at a desk, we are forced into a position that’s bad for our back and muscles. Even if you use an ergonomic office chair or a gaming chair, sitting down for a long period of time can cause you to adopt poor posture, which isn’t something you want.
Having a good posture offers a lot of benefits. For starters, it makes you look taller and feel more confident. Additionally, practicing good posture is great for maintaining back strength as you get older in the long term.
Stretching your neck instantly forces your body to sit up or stand up straight. And if you do this over time, you can slowly improve your neck and back muscle strength so that standing up and sitting up straight will no longer be an issue for you.
Feel Better, Perform Better
All in all, neck stretches help you feel better when working long workdays and sitting at a desk for a long period of time. And the better you feel, the better you perform. That way, you can accomplish tasks much quicker and improve efficiency, all while feeling much better in your own body.
How to Stretch Your Neck When Working a Desk Job
If you’ve been struggling with back pain and neck pain from your desk job, neck stretches are a quick but efficient fix for this. There are tons of stretches you can perform for your neck muscles, such as a chin tuck where you push your chin towards your chest to stretch the neck slowly.
You can also stretch your neck through other exercises. Everyone has unique needs, which is why we recommend researching to build your own stretching routine that is comfortable for you when working at your desk.
