The Mechanism of Adaptation (to Sitting)
Earlier in the conversation, I mentioned that most of us interact with our own bodies as if they are “black boxes” that conceal all the complex internal processes that take place in response to our actions. This concept can be easily demonstrated through physical training.
Let’s say that you want to be able to jump higher or farther. All you need to do is start jumping. As you do, your body will restructure and adapt to new demands, and, soon enough, you will notice improvements. If you want to get stronger, you pick up dumbbells and do some weightlifting. You may not really care how your body does what it does to become stronger, but you know that it will adapt somehow.
Whether you realize it or not, you constantly communicate with your body by sending it your desires in the form of actions you wish to perform. Your body, on the other hand, always responds by granting these actions to you. That’s right, just like a genie!
Your wish may not be granted immediately, but give it some time and you’ll get what you asked for.
Just like the tale of Alibaba, however, there’s always a catch. First of all, you need to articulate your wish properly, or else the trickster of a genie could misinterpret it (and often does). Another minor “inconvenience” when it comes to our bodies, is that our genies never sleep, always listening to our actions and treating them as if they are our commands.
That’s right, you don’t rub the magic lamp and you don’t say your wishes aloud. You don’t even need to think about your wishes. You just do what you do and it happens. It is important, if you don’t want any surprises, to be mindful of everything that you do.
That’s correct, even if you don’t do anything, your body still treats your inactivity as a command – a command that will be interpreted as, perhaps, Get lazy! You may as well tell your body: I’m not using my muscles, so I don’t need them. Your obedient body-genie will then take away the muscle and you will get weaker, as per your unconsciously-made wish. This is not limited only to our muscles, however, as similar types of adaptations can happen with most of our body parts, individual organs, and systems. This includes our bones and joints, connective tissues, respiratory and cardio functions, and far more.
So, who is this genie anyways?
Your nervous system. And, before we go any further in discussing the role of your nervous system in adapting to prolonged sitting, let us take a moment to consolidate what we just covered.
You don’t make yourself stronger; rather, you ask your body to get stronger by showing it that you would like to be able to, for example, lift a certain weight. You don’t make yourself faster – don’t flatter yourself – you challenge your body, and it makes all the necessary adjustments itself. You also don’t decide whether you will get weaker, because your body makes that decision if you stop physically challenging it regularly – whether that challenge means working out at a gym, rollerblading for fun, or chasing squirrels around the park trying to get a selfie.
What you need to understand from this is that everything that we do (or don’t do) gets treated by the body and brain as a command. In response, the body up-regulates and down-regulates resources in accordance with our needs. It adapts, helping us to get what we want. And the more we do something, the more power our wishes gain, causing the adaptations to root deeper and deeper.
The Adaptive & Protective Functions of the Nervous System
What was just described can be called an assistant or adaptive mechanism of our body, so named because it assists us in becoming what we need, in adapting to the challenges. A lot of people don’t think of it this way, though. By the way, is there a limit to what you can ask of your body?
Now, you may get ahead of yourself when you exercise, feeling all-powerful and mighty. You may start demanding your body to run like a cheetah or fly like an eagle. For this reason alone, your body is equipped with yet another special mechanism that is invoked when you wish for something unreasonable. If you push your body too hard, it will resist your actions to protect you from making a costly mistake. We can call this mechanism resistant or protective.
When you overwork, overuse, overstretch, or over-whatever your body or a part of it, this mechanism kicks in.
If you strain or tear a muscle, your body will warn you with localized pain and weakness in the surrounding muscles. This pain, hopefully, will keep you from repeating the mistake. At the same time, your body will repair the affected area by growing some protective (scar) tissue at the spot where, for example, your muscle or tendon may have torn. This can result in decreased elasticity of the tissues, and, as a result, you may experience tightness and limited range of motion in the immediate proximity of the area, as well as other surrounding areas.
The collective influence of your assistant and resistant mechanisms is what makes your body what it is. Adaptations produced by assistant mechanisms, however, are usually reversible. That is to say, no matter how strong you get through physical activities, if you stop challenging yourself, your body will readjust according to your demands. On the other hand, the protective measures used by resistant mechanisms have a tendency to accumulate, becoming a chronic issue or hard to mitigate. (We will come back to this topic when we discuss how we can start enjoying movement again.)
So, what does this have to do with sitting?
As we go sit about our daily business, the body thinks you’re commanding it to adapt to this position. Once again, it’s up to your nervous system to orchestrate all the necessary adjustments. Its mission now becomes making it easier and more enjoyable (if possible) for you to sit for prolonged periods of time – specialization.
In the upcoming section, we will take a theoretical case that is somewhat common among sedentary professionals and try to recreate the timeline of adaptations that usually happen when people sit for many years. Once again, let me remind you that your nervous system is the facilitator between your actions and your body’s responses. It is your body's first and the last line of response and defense. If we need to make a change in our bodies, we must deal with the nervous system.