The dangers of sedentary lifestyle for your health cannot be overemphasized. Your chances of living a healthy life will improve when you sit less or lie down less during the day. You risk living longer when you sit at a desk all day instead of standing and moving around. Living a sedentary lifestyle increases your chances of being obsessed, developing type 2 diabetes or heart disease, and slipping into depression or anxiety.
Effects of Sedentary Lifestyle on Your Body
Human beings are designed to stand upright. This supports the effective functions of your heart and cardiovascular system. This posture also affects the function of your bowel. A lot of bedridden people in the hospital are prone to experiencing challenges with their bowel function.
When you are active physically, it improves your entire energy levels and endurance, giving strength to your bones.
Gluteals and Legs
When you sit for a long period of time, it can result in the weakening and wasting away of the leg and gluteal muscles. These muscles serve the purpose of walking and stabilization. When these muscles weaken, you are at risk of sustaining more injuries from a fall. This also exposes you to strain from exercise.
Weight
Your body digests the fat and sugar you consume better when you move your muscles. Sitting for a long time affects efficient digestion. The excess fat and sugar are stored in your body.
Metabolic syndrome is likely to surface when you exercise and still spend a lot of time sitting. According to recent research, you need 60–75 minutes every day to engage in activities of moderate intensity. This fights the effect of sitting for too long.
Hips and Back
When you sit longer that you should, your hips and back will not support you well. The flexor muscle of your hips shortens when you sit longer and can lead to problems with your hip joints.
Also, prolonged sitting affects your back, especially if you have poor sitting posture or don’t use a chair with an ergonomic design or workstation. Poor sitting posture can adversely affect the spine, leading to spine disc compression and eventually premature degeneration.
Anxiety and Depression
Anxiety and depression are more common in people who sit for so long. Although we might not understand how sitting is linked to mental health,. It could be that those who sit for a prolonged period of time miss out on the positive effects of fitness and physical activities. To avoid this, getting up and moving will help.
Cancer
An ongoing study shows that sitting for a long time exposes a person to the risk of developing some types of cancer like lung, uterine and column cancers. There is no explanation yet on why this is so.
Heart Disease
Prolonged hours of sitting have been linked to heart diseases. A study revealed that men who spend 23 hours watching television in a week have a 64% higher risk of losing their lives to cardiovascular diseases than those who spend barely 11 hours.
Some experts revealed that those who are inactive and sit for a long time have a 147% chance of developing a heart attack or stroke.
Diabetes
Some studies have found that lying on a bed for five days can result in increased insulin resistance in the body. So blood sugar level increase beyond what is healthy. According to research, those who sit for a prolonged period have 112% higher risk of suffering diabetes.
Read more: 4 Reasons Why Plantain is Good for Diabetic Patients
Varicose Veins
Prolonged sitting can lead to Varicose veins or spider veins. Spider veins are a lower version of varicose Veins. Blood pools in your legs when you sit.
Varicose veins are not dangerous in themselves. In a few cases, they result in blood clots, which can cause serious issues.
Deep Vein Thrombosis
Prolonged sitting, like on a long flight trip or car trip, can cause deep vein thrombosis (DVT). This is a blood clot that forms in your leg veins. This is a big issue since part of the blood clot in the veins of your leg breaks off and spreads. This can restrict the blood flow to other parts of the body even your lungs and result in pulmonary embolism. This can lead to further complications and, ultimately, death.
Stiff Neck and Shoulders
When you spend most of your time bent over a system keyboard , it can result into pain and stiffness in your neck and shoulders.
In our world today, a lot of us take on jobs that expose us to the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle. It is important that we find the right work-life balance and stay healthy as we go about our work. We can only be fit for work when we are in good health.
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