How Sitting Impacts Your Health
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- By: Ben Harris
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- Immune Physical Health
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- September 17, 2021
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- 3 Min read
Our work and entertainment activities have changed over the last decades to be more sedentary. This has unintended consequences, which we are still learning about today. Keep reading to find out what the risks are and how to mitigate them.
Studies on prolonged sitting
In 2018, the Journal of Epidemiology published a study that looked into the health effects of prolonged sitting. They had over 127,000 people take part in the study, all of whom were healthy. Over the years of the study they tracked their health, activity levels, and time spent sitting. They then compared health outcomes and time spent sitting and found a strong correlation. They summarize their findings this way:
"In this large prospective study of adults who were free of major chronic diseases at baseline, prolonged leisure time spent sitting for more than 6 hours per day was associated with a 19% higher all-cause death rate when compared with sitting less than 3 hours per day."
There were a wide range of diseases that were more prevalent in the more sedentary group. The simple take away from this study is that sitting shortens your lifespan. We do not yet have enough information to say why this happens. Some possible causes include:
- More sitting time means less standing or active time
- Unhealthy habits that come with sitting, like snacking, may be an influencing factor
- Sitting changes the body’s hormone levels, which negatively impacts the immune system, making the body more prone to disease
More studies are needed to better understand the reason our health declines with prolonged sitting.
What you can do about it
The simplest solution to reduce the effects of inactivity is to stand up. The CDC looked at the effects of using a standing desk with a group of office workers that had previously only had normal sitting desks. They found that the standing desks:
- Reduced sitting time by 66 minutes per day
- Reduced pain by 54%, mostly in the back and neck
- Improved overall mood
Near the end of the study, they removed the standing desks. After two weeks at their normal desks, their pain had increased again, and their mood had declined. This shows that the benefits of standing more are seen most when it is a habit and not something we do intermittently.
Including using a standing desk, there several ways to reduce your sitting time. These include:
- Use a timer to remind you to get up every 30 minutes
- Find times to stand, such as phone calls or watching a show
- Standing while using the computer or tablet.
- Schedule walking meetings with co-workers instead of in a meeting room
There are several types of standing desks. They range from entire desks that raise and lower, to a specialized platform that sits on your current desk, and even something as simple as putting your computer and keyboard on a box. However you choose to do it, sitting less at your desk will improve your health.
As more of our activities and interactions are happening virtually, it is important to know that it affects our health and wellbeing. By finding creative ways to get out of our seats as often as possible, we can live longer and healthier.
References
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/pain/the-dangers-of-sitting
- https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/sitting-time-linked-to-higher-risk-of-death-from-all-causes.html
- https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/187/10/2151/5045572
- https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2012/11_0323.htm
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/sitting/faq-20058005