Although it sounds pretty harmless, sitting may be unhealthier than you think. In fact, it could be worse for you than smoking.
Sitting, or lack of physical activity, has been identified by the World Health Organization as the fourth greatest killer in the world, which is worse than obesity. The average person from Britain spends nearly 9 hours per day sitting. Tack on another 7 or 8 hours of sleep per night and that makes us an inactive bunch!
Inactivity is Very Costly
Doctors warn that physical inactivity is like a ticking time bomb for our health. Lack of movement is also very costly. The UK pays £1billion every year due to health related issues such as back, muscle, and neck problems. This figure is rising annually.
Get Britain Standing is a new campaign that is aimed at getting Brits off their rump and moving. Director Gavin Bradley compares the health risks of sitting to that of smoking during the 1970’s, “We all know a sedentary lifestyle is bad for us, we just don’t realise how bad it is.”
How Does Sitting Make Us Sick?
Sitting affects our body in the following ways:
- As soon as you sit, electrical activity that is found in your legs shuts off.
- Sitting causes your body’s caloric burning abilities to drop to just one calorie per minute.
- Enzymes within your body that are needed to break down fat drop by 90 percent, meaning your body’s fat burning abilities drop substantially when you sit. It’s almost like the body holds on to fat the more you sit.
- Enjoying a good, long movie? Good cholesterol drops 20 percent after two hours of sitting.
- Insulin effectiveness drops 24 percent after 24 hours of sitting, which causes the risk of diabetes to rise.
The Link Between Physical Activity, Disease, and Death
Physical inactivity has been associated with premature mortality rates. One study evaluated approximately 204,732 patients for an average of 12 years with daily sitting times of several categories, including almost none of the time, one fourth of the time, half of the time, three fourths of the time, and almost all of the time. Of the participants in the study, approximately 759 died of cardiovascular disease and 547 died of cancer.
The study indicated that there was a higher mortality rate across the board for participants that had a higher level of sitting when compared to participants who moved more. Furthermore, it can be assumed that sitting increases the risk for developing cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.
One study estimated that sitting contributes to:
- 6 percent of deaths from coronary heart disease
- 7 percent of deaths from type 2 diabetes
- 10 percent of deaths from breast cancer
- 10 percent of deaths from colon cancer
Furthermore, being inactive has been attributed to 9 percent of the deaths that occurred in 2008, or more than 5.3 million.
Get Moving Just a Little More
If physical inactivity were decreased by just 10 percent or 25 percent, it is estimated that approximately 533,000 and 1.3 million lives could be saved per year, respectively. This does not mean that down time has to be eliminated all together. Decreasing inactivity by 10 percent each year is easy if you take steps when you can, walk more, and bike instead of drive. This would not only help you become a healthier person, it would also greatly increase the life expectancy of the entire world’s population!
How To Incorporate More Movement in Your Daily Activities
Only one third of the UK population is meeting their minimal requirements for physical activity. Since most of us spend the majority of our day at a desk, one of the goals of the Get Britain Standing program is to incorporate more standing during the day. Standing desks or treadmill desks are common in Scandinavia; however, Director Bradley would like to see a 20 percent increase, or one in five, within the next 20 years of standing work spaces in Britain.
Incorporating more physical activity in your daily life may be able to decrease your risk of premature death by approximately 20-35 percent. Work, family, school and other obligations may make it hard to get to the gym daily. Look for simple ways to move more. If you spend most of your time at work or school, think about how you can prevent the amount of time you spend sitting. This may include walking the halls of your school in between class, taking a walk break during work, or purchasing your own standing work space with your employer’s permission. If you live in a community where sidewalks are available, consider biking or walking to work or school.
“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”
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