I know that most of us have the urge to hop out of bed in the morning and check emails, facebook messages and many other things on the computer that we feel we can’t begin our day without. “Maybe I’ll just check one email real quick” we say to ourselves. Yea right, ha ha! You and I both know that popping open one email leads to fifteen and then on to who knows what and who knows for how long! Opening an email is like a can of Pringles, “once you pop, you can’t stop!” During our sleeping hours the discs between our vertabrae become filled with fluid, leaving the spine very pliable for the first part of our mornings. Certain times of day are the most vulnerable for the back. Disc bending stresses are increased by 300% and ligaments by 80% in the early morning (Adams MA et al., 1987). Also, it might be wise to be awake for a few hours before heading to your garage gym and trying to mimic the athletes you were watching the night before on ESPN’s World’s Strongest Man show.

The last thing we want to do is go from an inactive state, (sleeping), to another inactive state, (sitting in our computer chairs). Most of us, whether we realize it or not, don’t have the best posture in our comfy comp chairs while we bang away on our keyboards.
As our mornings wear on, our intervertebral discs lose fluid and become more rigid. Why would we want our backs to stiffen up in a piss poor postural position?? Try getting out of bed and going for a small walk to help set the spine in a more neutral fashion. Maybe you could do a little joint mobility, not in a chair, but on your feet with good posture. Get to your emails after you show respect to your body. Side note: if you smoke, quit. Smoking reduces blood flow to the lower spine and causes the spinal discs to degenerate.

Tomorrow after you wake up, show your low back some love!