Sitting Around All Day Is Bad For You

Long periods of sitting are associated with risk of metabolic syndrome, stroke risk and heart attack and also your overall death risk.

Those who sit a lot have lower life expectancies, larger bottoms and slower metabolisms.

Van der Ploeg and colleagues from University of Sydney’s School of Public Health in Australia found that sitting for more than 10 hours per day increased your risk of death by 40 percent.

Prolonged sitting also disrupt your metabolic function resulting in increased plasma triglyceride levels, decreased levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and decreased insulin sensitivity.

And prolonged standing may leads to the development of musculoskeletal disorders, especially in your legs, knees and lower back.

Experts recommend a 50:50 sit-stand ratio even though you can stand for as long as you feel comfortable.

Every hour of watching TV cuts 22 minutes off your life.

It is not just watching TV, sitting all day at work can hurt you, too.

It makes you fat, weak and you most likely to get sick.

The question you might asked, Why is sitting so bad for you?

Here is what happens when you sit,

1. Electrical activity in your muscles drops result in a cascade of harmful metabolic effects.

2. Your calorie burning rate would drop to one per minute, a third of what it should be if you have got up and walked.

3. Your insulin effectiveness drops within a single day and your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes rises.

4. And you risked of being obese because the enzymes responsible for breaking down lipids and triglycerides (vacuuming up fat out of your bloodstream) plunged which in turn leads the levels of good (HDL) cholesterol to fall.

You cannot counter the harmful effects of sitting by exercising once in a while.

Even if you exercise everyday but also sit around a lot, you would still have a shorter lifespan compare to people who does not sit much.

Now the good news,

You do not have to run in the New York Marathons to offset all that sitting.

And also, you do not have to run the treadmill at the gym all night after work.

All you need to do is get up every hour or two and walk around for a while.

Or better still, you just have to stand instead of sit.

Remember, in activity does not kill you but it shortens your life. Source: New York Times