Truth Time — Is Sitting the New Smoking?
It’s Monday morning.
You’ve been busy with calls all day and answering emails in between, with a few short breaks where you browse through social media, only to find out what everyone has eaten for breakfast and that six more of your friends have gone on vacation.
You’re hungry — so you glance at the time wondering if it’s too early for a snack and — WHAT! It’s half past one. Where did the entire morning go?! You sat down for work at 9:30 am, and before you know it, it’s afternoon. You’ve spent nearly half your day seated on your not-so-comfortable chair. You decide to go refill your glass of water and stretch your stiff legs.
You plan on going for a walk later today, that ought to solve your nagging concerns about fitness, right? Well…think again.
What’s the deal with sitting?
When you think of something life-threatening, it probably won’t be that chair you spend the day on, or your favourite TV-watching spot on the sofa. But according to many researchers, excessive sitting is a potential threat to your health. This is where the phrase ‘sitting is the new smoking’ came from, and you may have heard it being casually thrown around — perhaps even more so as people work from home and adapt to changing lifestyles.
But is sitting really the new smoking?
And how do we go from less ‘sitness’ to more fitness?
Here’s what we know so far:
- Humans are built to stand upright. Your heart and cardiovascular system work more effectively that way, along with your digestive system. Evidence shows that sitting for long periods of time is linked to a number of health concerns — some of which are high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and high cholesterol levels.
- According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 60–85% of the population worldwide does not engage in enough activity, making physical inactivity the fourth leading risk factor for death globally.
- You may think that the best way to counteract all the sitting you do is to go for a walk afterwards, or get some exercise. And while physical activity is extremely beneficial, it does not undo the harmful effects of sitting for long periods of time
The problem with EXTENDED sitting
Research that analysed 13 independent studies on the subject of extended sitting reported that those who sat for more than eight hours a day with NO physical activity had a risk of dying that was similar to the risks posed by obesity and smoking. Research also shows that if you spend more than 10 hours sitting or being sedentary, you are at a greater risk of heart disease.
Offices, schools, homes, and public spaces have been (and continue to be) re-engineered in ways that discourage human movement and muscular activity. These changes have a dual effect on our behavior: we move less and sit more.
Current public health organizations recommend that you target at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week. This can help you potentially prevent and manage multiple chronic, lifestyle-related conditions like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and even some cancers.
So if you were to split that up, it would be 30 minutes of exercise roughly 5 times a week.
Seems reasonable, right?
Does that mean I can sit for however long I want?
NO.
Even if you’re doing 30 minutes of physical activity per day, it still matters what you do with the other 23 and a half hours of the day. More recent research shows that high levels of exercise can lessen some of the risk, but it does not make the risk disappear altogether. A walk at the end of the day is not the antidote to excessive sitting.
What happens when you sit? (You may want to stand up for this)
First,
- Electrical activity in your leg muscles shuts off
- Calorie burning drops to one or two per minute (depending on age)
- Fat-digesting enzymes drop by 90%
After half an hour
- Metabolism slows down by 90%
And what happens when you stand?
In less than 2 minutes,
- The processing of cholesterol, blood sugar, and triglycerides gets reactivated
If you keep standing,
- Blood sugar levels drop
- Blood flow increases
- Metabolism jump starts
So, the good news is that you don’t have to replace sitting with time at the gym. There are benefits to even light movement and activity during the day. For every 20 minutes of sitting, try to stand for eight minutes and move around for two minutes.
Since we have established that more moving and less sitting is good for you, how can you put this into practice today? Here are some ways to start:
- Take a break from sitting every 30 minutes and walk around your house or office
- Stand while talking on the phone
- If you work at a desk, you can try switching it up with a high table or counter for certain parts of the day
- Opt to walk and talk when you need to discuss something, or meet with someone
You can minimize your risk of all these concerns simply by making one change: spend less time sitting! The impact of movement and physical activity, even if it is light and leisurely, can be massive. You burn more calories, maintain muscle tone, aid digestion, and improve your overall well-being.
So start sitting less and moving more! Remember, the only person who can keep YOU the healthiest is YOU.
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