Do you know that sitting for six hours or more consistently is bad for your health? Right now can you calculate how much time you spend sitting daily? Many of us sit as much as 15 hours in the day at work and at home. This sedentary lifestyle can cause weight gain and puts you at a 113% risk of a stroke or a heart attack according to the World Health Organisation.
Driving, sitting in a bus, in front of a computer at work, or plopped on the couch watching television is a form of inactivity for the body. We are quite content with sitting, but this inactivity has been found to be the main cause of about a quarter of breast and colon cancers, 27 percent of diabetes cases, and 30 percent of heart disease cases. In milder cases, some people end up with back, neck and shoulder problems.
The solution to this is to take breaks at least once an hour as engaging in physical activity will help reduce the aforementioned risks. It is about creating pockets of moderate activity throughout the day and giving your body a respite from sitting. Here are some suggestions for changing your daily routine and making it more active.
- The swivel chair is not a wheel chair and shouldn’t be used as an alternative to getting up. To reach for that file, get up. Instead of calling your colleague on the extension, take a walk over to your co-worker’s cubicle.
- Put the television remote control at a considerable distance.
- Set an hourly standing alarm to remind you to stand because you may be so engrossed in work and most likely will forget.
- Stand up for just one or two minutes every hour, it can reduce the negative effect of sitting all day.
You need to make a living but also have to be healthy to spend the money, so counter the effects of sitting with these suggestions to avoid painful and debilitating health conditions.
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This article was first published on 21st December 2014
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