As we lead more sedentary lives, it will be important to counteract the consequences of an excessive amount of sitting. Research has linked long periods of sitting to several health concerns similar to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.
Fortunately, you may reduce your risk of those conditions by standing up and moving more—even when you’re already exercising. This is because regular movement through the day increases these advantages.
Dangers of a sedentary lifestyle
In an American Cancer Society study of 123,000 middle-aged adults, researchers found that girls who sat probably the most had a 34 percent higher risk of dying from any cause over the 14 years of the study than those that sat the least. For men, the rise was 17 percent.
When exercise was normalized, the difference was much more significant. The most sedentary women, who neither moved nor exercised much, were nearly twice as more likely to die through the study as probably the most lively and exercised women. The most sedentary men were 50 percent more more likely to die than their more lively counterparts.
Similarly, other studies have concluded that regular, every day movement has advantages, whether for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or weight reduction. The importance of movement to health is so well established that some doctors advise their patients to exercise “sitting in moderation.”
Sitting and your health
Why does prolonged sitting have such adversarial health effects? One explanation is that it relaxes your largest muscles. When muscles chill out, they take up less sugar (glucose) from the blood, which increases your risk of type 2 diabetes.
In addition, enzymes that break down blood fats (triglycerides), causing the “good” cholesterol, HDL levels to drop. The result’s the next risk of heart disease.
Benefits of every day movement
On the contrary, every day movement not only reduces your risk of major diseases, but additionally helps burn more calories. Dr. James Levine on the Mayo Clinic coined the term “non-exercise activity thermogenesis,” or NEAT, to consult with the energy you burn through normal activities that you simply don’t consider exercise. These are activities similar to fiddling, taking the laundry upstairs, dancing across the house to your favorite tune, or standing while talking on the phone.
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