Simple Ways to Sit Less That You Need to Know

Do you sit for more than 6 hours a day? The vast majority of Americans fit into this criteria, and it is having a significant impact on your personal health and well-being. According to recent studies the average American spends 55% of waking time in sedentary behaviors such as sitting. The typical work day, now consists of the following:

• Drive 20-30 minutes to work
• Sit in front of your computer for 3-4 hours while working, with minimal breaks or opportunity to move
• Go to lunch
• Get back in front of a computer for 3-4 hours to finish work
• Drive 20-30 minutes home
• Spend 3-4 hours parked on the couch, to watch TV or eat dinner

 

What Studies Found Out About Sitting

This lifestyle is wreaking havoc on your health. The 2010 American cancer society study, published in the American journal of Epidemiology, followed 123,216 individuals (69,776 women and 53,440 men from 1993 – 2006, and found the following alarming results:

Women who were inactive and sat over 6 hours a day were 94% more likely to die during the time period studied than those who were physically active and sat less than 3 hours a day. While men were 48% more likely to die than their standing counterparts.

 

The scary part, is that these findings were independent of physical activity levels, meaning that an hour a day of exercising does not off-set the risks associated with hours spent in a seated position.

 

Sitting is Making You Fat and Sick

Right after you sit down, the electrical activity in your muscles slows down and your calorie burning rate drops to one calorie per minute. This is about a third of what it does if you are walking. Sitting for prolonged periods of time also can affect insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake, which can quickly lead to type 2 diabetes.

After a week of sitting more than 6 hours per day, our bodies begin to see an increase in Triglycerides, LDL Cholesterol, and insulin resistance. This means that your muscles aren’t taking in fat, and your blood sugar levels go up, which directly leads to weight gain.

 

Continuing to sit for longer than 6 hours per day over the course of several years has been shown to also lead to the following:

• Weight gain
• High cholesterol
• Hypertension
• Muscle atrophy
• Loss of 1% of bone mass a year for females
• Increased risk of dying of heart disease by 64%
• Increased risk of prostate cancer by 30%
• Breast cancer by 30%
• Shown to cause you to lose seven quality adjusted life years

 

Start Moving Towards a Healthy Body and Life

Those are scary numbers, and it’s no wonder that sitting has become the new smoking due to its laundry list of medical issues and health ramifications. The good news is that most of these dangers can be avoided by adding movement into your daily routine on a regular basis. Again, I am not only discussing working out regularly, but adding simple movement into your regular work, or daily routine. Here are some basic examples, and strategies to offset your risk.

 

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At Home,At Work,On the Road

Get up during commercial breaks. Try to stretch or exercise during these breaks,”Take a break from your computer every 20-30 minutes and do a set of 20 air squats, or some other leg exercise.”,Try to take public transportation as often as possible so that you must walk to and from stops/stations

Do household chores while watching TV. This can include things like folding laundry or ironing,”Take breaks to stand during long meetings. March in place or try to stretch out your legs.”,Walk to nearby destinations.

Stand up every 20 minutes if working from home to stretch and move your joints,Stand to greet visitors as they walk by.,”When you do drive, park as far away from entrances as possible to force you to walk more”

Take a walk around the house or neighborhood a few times each day.,Use a headset and stand while on the phone.,Plan regular breaks during long road trips

Take the dog out for a walk. Play catch with the kids,Walk while having meetings with co-workers.,”When you do stop, make sure your stretch out your legs, and try some squats”

Watch TV while standing. Pace the room while watching your favorite shows or games.,”Eat lunch away from your desk, and take frequent breaks to grab water and go to the bathroom”,

,Try working from a kneeling position or standing position as often as possible.,

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This is a serious issue that affects all of us. Take the time to protect your own personal health, and implement as many of these strategies as possible. Try your best to sit less than 3 hours each and every day, and make sure you are adding regular exercise to your daily routine.

 

 

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About the Author

Today I realize that I am no longer in the fitness business, but I am in the possibility business. I challenge people to question themselves and their limits, with the goal to always exceed their expectations. I challenge them to push beyond their limits and their comfort zone to achieve feats of strength and endurance that they always thought were impossible. In removing those beliefs and limitations, people begin to realize that there are other areas of life they have been holding back, there is greatness in all of us, and it is my job to help everyone realize that greatness. Once that is unlocked, they realize that nothing in life is impossible!

References

http://atvb.ahajournals.org/content/27/12/2650.abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44683/

http://sjp.sagepub.com/content/35/5/510.abstract

http://journals.lww.com/acsmmsse/Fulltext/2010/05000/Sedentary_Behaviors_Increase_Risk_of.6.aspx

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