Prolonged Sitting is a Health Risk
Beware of the chair ….Have you ever lounged all day and felt tired from doing absolutely nothing ? Is your lifestyle considered sedentary and your work is at a desk or from the couch? Is your energy down mid day when everyone else's is up? Do you need naps often and then caffeine again in the afternoon? If you answered yes to any of the above, one reason may be because over time, our bodies confuse stillness with resting and sleeping. Therefore your energy diminishes and then depletes hourly like the sand in an hourglass. The longer you sit around, the more tired you feel. We have long known the detrimental effects of smoking, well ….similar findings are conclusive for sitting.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that "one in four American adults sit for longer than eight hours every day." Experts are now saying that sitting is in fact, detrimental and can be considered as dangerous as smoking.
Studies found people who sat for more than 8 hours a day and who have no physical activity in their lifestyle, had a risk level of dying which is similar to the risks from obesity and smoking.
Being sedentary for prolonged periods of time over the course of weeks and months can affect many systems:
• Cardiovascular System: sedentary lifestyle raises the risks of poorer blood circulation, coronary artery disease, heart attacks, high blood pressure, high cholesterol (can damage arteries and lead to heart diseases), metabolic syndrome, and stroke
• Musculoskeletal System: being sedentary can put you at risk of losing muscle strength, muscle bulk/size (atrophy) tightness, and losing bone density (without impact or weight bearing or resistance bone tissue loses mineral content, then osteopenia can lead to osteoporosis).
• Endocrine System: being sedentary means your muscles aren’t really using insulin the way they should be used when muscles are active. Insulin is the hormone that regulates sugar in the blood, binding sites for insulin diminish. As a result, the body starts to become less responsive to insulin which way down the road can lead to type 2 diabetes.
"Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting." - James Levine, professor at Mayo Clinic.
Mayo Clinic suggests that you "take a break from sitting every 30 minutes, stand while talking on the phone or watching tv, try a standing desk for work, walk with colleagues for meetings instead of sitting in a conference room and position your work surface, desktop or phone above a treadmill."
The point is, sitting for prolonged periods of time is a dangerous game we all play, but do we want to continue it over the course of our adult life? One hour of exercise per day is great in general, but it will not cancel out those 4 hours spent binge watching your favorite show. According to experts, besides formal exercise, making a change can be a simple start by just getting up and get things moving, your body was made to move and do all kinds of things. Here are some simple starts: Put a timer on before you sit down to a task. When it rings, stand up. Yep…just get off your butt. Do that 5-10 x and continue on this every hour. If feeling more motivated, do some stretching, take a short walk, even put your water and your trashcan away from your desk or couch so that you would have to change positions every 30 minutes. Start simple. If you need ideas, we have plenty to share. If you have a partner or friend to join, even better with company.
A look inside
What’s actually happening to your body when you sit. Doing this for long periods makes the effects more amplified.
Take a few breaks during the times you have to sit. Maybe set a timer so that you get up and walk around every so often.