How to sit properly (it's not as erect as you might think)

If the results of a new survey are anything to go by, you're probably sitting down as you read this. The research, by a skin-care company, found that we spend 14 hours and 28 minutes a day taking the weight off our feet - the equivalent of 36 years of our adult life. Allowing for eight hours of shut-eye, that leaves a paltry one and a half hours during which we are on our feet, or being active.

This isn't good news, according to Tim Hutchful from the British Chiropractic Association (BCA). "From an anatomical point of view, we have not evolved to sit," he says. The BCA's own research shows that back pain in the UK has increased by 5% in the past year, with 52% of us currently suffering. While sitting per se doesn't cause back pain, scientists reporting in the European Spine Journal last year stated that sitting for more than half a work-day, and sitting with poor posture, did increase the risk.

But sitting ramrod-straight isn't the answer. It's all about angles, apparently. "Whether you're hunched over your computer or slouching on the sofa, if you are in a position where the angle between your thighs and torso is below 90 degrees, you're putting excessive pressure on the spine," explains Hutchful. "An angle of 80 degrees puts double the amount of pressure on the lumbar spine compared to standing up."

The ideal sitting position, he says, is with a 110-degree angle between your legs and spine, with your bottom pushed well into the back of the seat and your back, legs and bottom in contact with the chair. In a car, that might mean having the seat back reclined, while on an office chair, you might need the seat angled down and the seat-back tilted forward.