Wed 11 May, 2011 09:00 am BST
HEALTH
A modern health hazard
© Gert Vrey - Fotolia.com
The average adult is recommended to get a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise and eight hours of sleep per day. That leaves 15 and a half hours free, and more and more people are choosing to spend that time at their desk.
But today's sedentary lifestyle is actually worse for your body than you might think. Spending too much time sitting without a break can have an adverse effect on your heart and your waistline. In fact, research shows it can be as bad for your health as not getting enough exercise.
A study published in January found that those who spend more than four hours a day in front of a screen were more than twice as likely to have a major cardiac event resulting in hospitalization or even death compared to those who got less than two hours screen time.
The higher mortality rate associated with prolonged periods of sitting is independent of low levels of physical activity or other traditional risk factors. It is thought that sitting down for too long can also harm your metabolism, although exactly how this happens is still unclear.
Worst of all, too much sitting still can be bad for your health, even if you exercise regularly.
A new study from the University of South Carolina found that men who sat for more than 23 hours every week were 64 per cent more likely to die from heart disease than those who sat for less than 11 hours a week. Many of the men in the study exercised routinely.
The USC researchers say that one of the reasons sitting is so bad for you is because your large muscle groups, such as those in your legs and back, are not contracting like they would if you were up and moving.
The same researchers also found that sitting can contribute to bad levels of cholesterol, blood sugar, triglycerides and waist size, all of which can lead to problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
"We just aren't really structured to be sitting for such long periods of time, and when we do that, our body just kind of goes into shutdown," said Toni Yancey of the University of California Los Angeles.
But Yancey also said that it is possible to combat the effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
Occasional, short breaks – even just standing up for a few minutes every hour – have been found to significantly improve the health of the sitting person. She also said that sitting on an exercise ball can help a person use more of their muscles while sitting.
Moving around the office at work can also help. Standing up and going for coffee or lunch is far better than having it at your desk. Take the stairs at work, rather than the lift or escalator, and get up to speak to a work colleague at their desk instead of e-mailing them.
Your best solution, though, might be to get out of your chair and away from the computer as much as you can. There's plenty to be done on your feet – so what are you waiting for?
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