Warning! You Probably Have The Sitting Disease

Let’s face it, with technology comes good and not so good. 

You’re most likely reading this on a computer sitting at home, the office or on a smart phone commuting to work.

This post is going shock you!  Even if you think you’re “in shape” you may want to take stock of exactly how long you sit each.  For this article I’m using “sitting” as being sedentary.

A sedentary lifestyle can have a significantly negative impact on your health! Recent research has been sacking up to highlight just how dangerous inactivity can be to your future well-being.

It’s now a proven fact that spending too much time seated will shorten your life.  In this post, you’ll discover the dangers associated with long periods of sitting, and you learn a few simple tactics that you can use on a daily basis.

Whether at work, at home, or even vacation you can start to make changes today that will improve your health tomorrow.

Leading a Sedentary Lifestyle

• According to the American Institute of Cancer research, approximately 100,000 new cases of breast and colon cancer each year are linked to sedentary lifestyles.

• A study at the University of South Carolina showed that people who were in active for more than 23 hours per week had a 64% greater risk of death from heart disease when compared to a control group, who were sedentary for less than 11 hours per week.

• It is estimated that up to 100,000 people die each year from blood clots, and sitting in one position for too long is the key factor.

• The dangers of sitting were discovered in the late 1950s, when we realized that men who were employed in manual labor jobs were less likely to suffer coronary artery disease than those whose jobs were not physically active.

• Research has concluded that there is a significant link between time spent seated and mortality.  More importantly, being active doesn’t balance out the negative effects of being seated much the time.

The Physiological Implications of Being Sedentary

• A 2008 study published in Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports showed that if we don’t stand, electrical activity within the muscles effectively stops, leading to a drop of up to 90% in the levels of lipoprotein lipase, which is an enzyme that draws fat out of the bloodstream for use as fuel.  It stops because it isn’t required.  This leads to higher concentration of blood fats that are known to increase the risk of cardiovascular ailment.

• In addition, sitting appears to lead to about 20% reduction in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or good cholesterol, increasing the risk of suffering from a cardiovascular disease.

• Sitting only requires contractions of the small muscles in the hands and forearms, i.e. when typing or change the television channels with a remote control, the use these small muscles only require tiny amounts of energy when compared to the large muscles in the legs, buttocks, and lower back.  As a result, your metabolism plummets, so calories are not being consumed but absorbed, a fact that will more than likely manifest itself in your waistline or hips.

• Remaining sedentary for more than 24 hours impairs the ability of insulin to uptake glucose, which then raises the risk of diabetes.  In addition, blood circulation is, to a certain degree, dependent upon movement.  When the legs are not moving, the leg muscles are not contracting, and the risk of blood pooling in the lower limbs is increased, potentially leading to a number of health related issues – including deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which is a clot in the leg or groin, and feeling dizzy when standing.  Furthermore, the lymphatic system is solely reliant upon the massage effect of muscles due to movement.

• Even if you hit the gym straight after work, an eight-hour day spent sitting at your desk is going to take its toll in time.  Unfortunately, whether you’re out of shape or in good shape, too much time sitting can be disastrous to your health.

• The human body adapts specifically to the demands that are placed on it; setting, in effect, trains your body to do nothing and leads to physiological applications that reduce your functionality.

• Because the hazards of to what sitting can affect us even one were active, we need a blueprint to reduce sedentary behavior that involves taking stock of our daily routine and attempting to find opportunities to reduce the time spent seated-particularly for long, uninterrupted bouts.

• This doesn’t necessarily mean heading for the gym and a full hour-long workout (although that would be nice), but it does involve engaging in non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), a label coined by Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  NEAT involves finding ways to introduce movement into your daily routine, thereby reducing the amount of time you spend sitting.

Preventing Sitting Disease

• OK…this is fairly easy…move!

• At work, where the likelihood of being stationed at a desk is an issue, take breaks by walking to the water fountain.  In addition to the exercise in getting you there, water has known benefits to help.  Furthermore, stand whenever you’re talking on the phone, drinking coffee or talking to someone who comes to see you.

• Find the stairs and use them instead of the elevator.

• Personally deliver your notes/ memos, reports, etc.

• You can schedule a five-minute activity.  For both the morning and the afternoon to take a walk.

• Even if you can’t leave your chair, you can still train your abs by sitting upright with your shoulders drawn back, taking hold of the front edge of the chair with both hands for support, and slowly lift your needs toward your chest.

Posture and Breathing

• There is no doubt that long periods of sitting or linked with poor posture, which is a crucial factor in back pain issues.  The big problem with being seated is that it’s too easy to switch off your core muscles, and your alignment suffers as well.  A disengaged core manifests itself in rounded shoulders and a fortune position.

• A surprising cause of poor posture is poor breeding technique.  When breathing is not effective, the nervous system will attempt to bring about changes that allow for more oxygen to be taken on board and then delivered to all the cells within the body because they need this life-giving fuel.  Unfortunately, this can initiate change in posture.

• Breathing exercise can help with this.

Also, as you move more, more blood gets to the brain and more blood to the brain helps you think better and make better decisions.

So, don’t let the sitting disease get you…stand up and fight it!

“Today, our bodies are breaking down from obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, depression, and the cascade of health ills and everyday malaise that come from what scientists have named sitting disease … Every two hours spent just sitting reduces blood flow and lowers blood sugar, increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.” ~ James A. Levine, MD, PhD

Resource: Physiology and Fitness – The Great Courses