How Sitting Impacts Your Health

 

Public health experts say that “sitting is that the new smoking.” Meaning: it’s something we all do an excessive amount of of, without really grasping the long-term health effects of it.

Sitting for just three or more hours per day increases a person’s risk of chronic disease and cuts their anticipation by two years. (Whoops! Americans sit about 9.5 hours per day.) In fact, sitting for quite three hours per day has these effects albeit you’re otherwise physically active—exercising for the recommended half-hour per day doesn’t structure for an otherwise sedentary lifestyle.

This is emerging together of the main public health challenges of our time: sedentary lifestyles are contributing significantly to an increased risk of heart condition , type 2 diabetes and certain sorts of cancer.

SO WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT SITTING?

When you’re sitting, your muscles are inactive and your body isn’t ready to manage blood sugar normally. This contributes to metabolic syndrome (the inability to take care of healthy blood sugar levels), which results in abnormally high vital sign , cholesterol and blood glucose levels. These factors increase the danger of heart condition , stroke and diabetes. Higher blood glucose levels also are related to an increased risk of certain sorts of cancer.

It’s a touch counterintuitive that something as seemingly harmless as sitting has numerous detrimental health effects. But albeit sitting itself isn’t dangerous, your body isn't meant to take a seat still for long periods of your time .

NEAT: NON-EXERCISE ACTIVITY THERMOGENESIS

Much of the day should be spent in NEAT—non-exercise activity thermogenesis. meaning traveling at a cushty and straightforward pace, just doing basic human things and using your body the way it had been meant to be used. Walking, reaching, carrying, lifting, bending, sitting for a touch , standing up.

Until very recently in human history, NEAT was an integral a part of our daily lives. you'll probably imagine your grandparents years ago getting plenty of NEAT: walking to the market to urge groceries and carrying them home; doing the laundry and hanging it bent dry; squatting to weed the flower or kitchen garden . Even your parents once they started their office jobs probably walked down the hall to speak to a coworker, or took trips back and forth from the file (instead of emailing that coworker or storing files on a computer).

These sorts of natural human movements are replaced by technology and lifestyle changes, leading to a dramatic decrease in NEAT movement throughout the day. So, not only do most Americans come short of minimum exercise guidelines (150 minutes per week), but we also don’t “gently move around” enough either.

Desk jobs especially promote this problem, because they require that folks sit for several more hours per day than is normal or healthy for your body. It seems that folks who work sedentary jobs have twice the danger of cancer, particularly colon and rectal cancers (eek!).

So, that's but ideal, but there are some belongings you can do to enhance things without quitting your job:

HOW TO SIT LESS & MOVE AROUND MORE

AT THE OFFICE

• Get up and move around a minimum of 5-10 minutes out of each hour. once you got to fill your bottle , use the toilet or get something from the printer, take the long route.
• Set a timer to require micro-breaks every 20 to 30 minutes—stand up and stretch for a moment or two.
• Stand up once you can—like when you’re talking on the phone, chatting with a coworker or organizing papers.
• Get a whiteboard in your office for keeping track of your to-do list or outlining projects. It’s hard to write down on a whiteboard sitting down!
• Walk over to a colleague rather than emailing or calling.
• Take a walk on your lunch break. (Is it cold outside? Wear a coat. Are you wearing uncomfortable shoes? Bring a cushty pair to vary into.)
• Suggest a “walk and talk” meeting with colleagues.
• Practice desk yoga.
• Get a standing desk if you can!

IN lifestyle

• Take the steps .
• Talk on the phone while standing or walking.
• Walk once you can rather than driving—carrying a bag of groceries back from the shop isn't something we do much lately , but it’s great for you!
• Stand on the bus or train rather than sitting.
• Build walking into social time—invite friends to hitch you for a walk, a hike or, when possible, suggest you walk to dinner/the bar rather than driving.
• Get a dog. (Okay, this might not be feasible or desirable for everybody , but dog owners tend to log more steps per day than they might without the dog.)
• While watching TV, rise up and move around during commercial breaks.
• Or, close up the TV! (Watching TV only builds upon an otherwise sedentary lifestyle, and watching three hours of TV each day doubles a person’s risk of dying prematurely of any cause.) Instead, turn those extra TV hours into physically healthy (and mentally beneficial!) activities like trying a replacement workout or cooking a healthy meal.
• Monitor your daily steps via your smartphone, fitness tracker or pedometer. (Research shows that you simply should be getting about 10,000 steps a day!)

A note on second-hand sitting: Although you’re not getting to suffer directly because somebody else decides to take a seat near you, it does have some effect. If the people you’re with are sitting, you’re more likely to take a seat too. attempt to encourage activities that promote traveling . If you've got a desk job that needs many sitting at work, attempt to reduce the time you spend sitting during your free time.