The Dangers of a Sedentary Lifestyle & Examples of How to Overcome It
Wake up. Get ready for work. Sit in the car during traffic for 45 minutes. Arrive at work. Sit at desk, check emails and do some work. Move to conference room and yawn your way through an hour-long meeting. Order lunch from your computer without getting up. Lunch arrives. Eat at your desk while simultaneously browsing the Internet and preparing that memo. Sit for another few hours. Get back in the car. Drive half hour to the gym. Spend an hour working out. Drive home. Prepare dinner. Grab a snack and sit on the couch to catch up on your favourite series. Head to bed. Repeat.
When we reflect on the average day for most people, its just as startling how sedentary our lifestyles have become.
While it might feel more comfortable to kick back in an armchair than take a walk around the neighborhood, living a sedentary lifestyle can have a direct, negative effect on our health and wellness. It may be why we are tired, stressed and struggling to lose weight.
The Downside of a Sedentary Lifestyle
The human body was designed to move. For thousands of years, that’s exactly what humans did. Much of it was for survival: We moved to gather food, escape predators and migrate to more forgiving land.
Even as humans advanced, our bodies were in motion. Long days of farm work, trudging into town for school or supplies, and other factors of everyday living meant there was little time for our ancestors to rest on their laurels. In the mid-20th century, however, technological advances, a rise in car culture and a shift from physically demanding work to office jobs began chipping away at our physical activity.
Today, at a time when we have more choices than ever in almost every aspect of our lives, most of us choose to be stationary.
But how does not moving regularly take a toll on our health? The World Health Organization estimates that a lack of physical activity is associated with 3.2 million deaths a year. Let us count the ways.
1. Heart Disease
Sitting for too long means your muscles aren’t burning as much fat as they could be and your blood is flowing through your body at a slower pace, giving fatty acids a better chance of clogging your heart — which can lead to coronary heart disease. One study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that the more time men spent sitting in cars and watching television, the more likely they were to have some type of cardiovascular disease.
2. Diabetes Risk
When you’re not moving, your body isn’t using as much blood sugar — and that’s not a good thing. A study of more than 80,000 people found each hour they spent watching TV increased their risk of developing diabetes by 3.4 percent.
That’s why exercise is one of the best natural treatments of diabetes, while a lack of physical activity is one of the leading causes for developing diabetes.
3. Reduced Circulation
Remaining stationary for too long slows blood circulation to the legs, which can lead to swollen ankles, blood clots swelling and pain. At the scarier end is deep vein thrombosis, when a blood clot forms in your legs. The clot can eventually break free and obstruct other parts of your body, including your lungs.
4. Fuzzy Thinking
Ironically, sitting down to work can actually lead to trouble concentrating. When we’re not moving, there’s less blood being pumped throughout our bodies, including our brains. This slows down our cognitive functions and leads to brain fog.
5. Loss of Muscle and Bone Strength
Forget flexing: We need our bodies to maintain lean muscle tissue so we can perform our daily tasks without hurting or taxing our bodies. With a sedentary lifestyle, that all changes. Ordinary events, like grocery shopping or picking things up, become much more difficult. This becomes especially important in older adults, who are already losing muscle mass and bone strength.
The kicker with our sedentary lifestyles is that even if you exercise regularly, it might not be enough to combat all those hours you spend sitting at work or in the car. A review in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute analysed 43 studies, totalling about 4 million people, that dealt with people’s sitting behaviour and their incidences of cancer.
Researchers found that adjusting for physical activity didn’t budge the link between a sedentary lifestyle and cancer. We spend so much time not moving that even those 30 minutes at the gym aren’t enough to counteract all those hours at our desks.
Are you standing yet? The good news is that you can prevent the effects of a sedentary lifestyle, even if you do work in an office environment — and none of them include exercising more.
Here are some handy tips
1. Set an Alarm
Use your smartphone for good, not evil. Set an alarm to remind you to get up and move, ideally about five to eight times throughout your workday. Whether it’s simply getting up and stretching, working on your feet for 10 minutes, taking a walk around the office, or going for a quick stroll outside, it’ll do your body good.
2. Have Walking Meetings
Keep your brain engaged and your legs moving by scheduling walking meetings with your team. If the weather and/or your co-workers aren’t cooperating, try heading outdoors solo the next time you need to brainstorm or be creative. Being up on your feet and not slumped in a chair can spark your creativity as your body sends blood to the brain. Plus, you can walk to lose weight at the same time!
3. Walk and Talk Instead of Sending Emails
How many emails do you send to co-workers a day? Cut back on the electronic clutter, and walk over to your colleagues’ desks to hammer out details instead. It will cut down on all the back-and-forth messages while keeping your body active.
Need more inspiration? Try these:
- Talk on the phone while walking around the house instead of sitting on the couch.
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
- Park further away from the door at work or get off at the bus stop before your work stop.
- Pick up your lunch instead of ordering delivery.
- Do light exercises while watching TV.
- Get up and dance the next time your favourite song is on the radio.
- Invest in a standing desk at work
So there you have it-you might have to sit down several hours a day, but there is no reason why you can’t take a stand and change your sedentary lifestyle. However you choose to get moving, just get moving. Avoid the harmful effects of a sedentary lifestyle and take control of your health and mind!