Can Sitting Be Dangerous To Your Health?

Most people think that if you exercise regularly, it’s okay to remain sedentary for the rest of the day. However, research shows that even if you exercise for an hour a day for 5 days per week, if you spend 40 hours or more per week sitting (at work and at home watching TV), you are at risk for various major diseases.

Current research shows that even exercise can’t protect you from the ill effects of sitting too much. The amount of time you exercise and the amount of time you spend sitting are com­pletely separate factors in risk for heart disease.

In a 14-year study of over 120,000 people with no history of lung disease, heart attack, stroke or can­cer, researchers found that those who spent the most time sitting – regardless of exercise – had the highest death rate. Sitting had negative effects on fat and cho­lesterol metabolism.

Prolonged sitting has effects on health that even exercise cannot combat. These include:

• Deep Vein Thrombosis – When you sit for long periods, your calf muscles don’t contract and circulate blood causing blood clots that get painful and swollen. Worse still, these clots can break off and cause a stroke.

• Diabetes – The less you move, the less blood sugar your body uses. For every two hours you spend sitting each day, your risk of diabetes in­creases by 7%.

• Heart Disease – Without blood circula­tion, enzymes that break down fat in the blood (triglycerides) switch off, increasing blood pres­sure and fat buildup in the arteries.

Technology has made it possible to sit through life. Nowadays, you can shop, pay bills and visit with friends on the computer – all without ever standing up! Just a few generations ago, our ancestors were more active in a day than we are in a month!

Here are some ways to stay active apart from ex­ercising:

• Set an alarm to get up from your chair ev­ery half hour or hour. Get up and walk around.

• Limit the amount of time you sit and watch TV or, watch TV while jogging in place or riding an exercise bike.

• Instead of sitting while folding laundry, paying bills or talking on the phone… stand or move around.

• Take the stairs instead of the lift. Park farther from your destina­tion and walk.

So don’t just plan to exercise, plan to move as well!