Saturday 12th October
Our lifestyles are more sedentary now than ever before. We work sat down at a desk, we relax in the evening sat on the sofa and spend endless time commuting in our car… sat down. But how bad can sitting really be for us?
According to the Mayo Clinic “sitting is more dangerous than smoking”. Extended periods of sitting can increase the risk of obesity, back and neck pain, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and many other issues. Research has shown that it is now classed as “unhealthy” to sit all day or spend excessive periods of time being inactive on a regular basis.
On the list of things that are a detriment to your health, I am sure you wouldn’t think to put your chair on the list. However, the risk of sitting is becoming a more researched topic and how it can truly decrease your health. Research lists some of the increased risks to obesity, back and neck pain, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
As an estimate, we spend more than half of our waking hours sat down.
As humans, we aren’t designed to sit all day. Movement heals and strengths our body and without it, our bodies suffer.
Research has shown that no matter the amount or type of exercise you do, it does not cancel out the extended periods of sitting you do.
Sitting is an independent factor. It doesn’t matter if you are exercising every morning and night, if you are sitting all day the affects can be the same on your body. Even if you could offset active time against inactive time, if you try to offset 10 hours at your desk with 1 hour of exercise the day, your body still has 9 hours more sedentary time it has to cope with.
Exercising is better than not exercising, but we also need to focus on limiting the number of consecutive hours we spend sitting. The reason for this is that with consecutive sitting, our metabolism slows down considerably and our muscles in our lower body get shut off, even after just 30 minutes. Just standing up or moving around can re-set this decrease of metabolism and switch your muscles back on!
Current research shows that there could be up to 90% more pressure applied to your low back and neck when you are sitting versus standing. 80% of us experience low back pain in our life and 75% of us experience neck pain in our life. There are many reasons why we may get low back pain and sitting a lot in the day is one of the most prevalent reasons.
Often when we are looking at a computer screen, we end up slouched over and looking down at our screen as we sit there for hours concentrating. When we have our heads in this position, it creates a lot of added stress for our neck. As we slouch in our chair, it can create pressure in the small of our back (our low back). The muscles, joints and discs in the neck have to work harder to hold your neck, which can cause issues.
With the amount of time you are sat down during the day, desk based jobs can be the factor that increases the hours that you have to be sat down. So, if you are battling a desk-based job, here are some things you can try, to help reducing the number of hours you are sat down in a row!
