Is Sitting Really that Bad?

  5:40 PM      


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It’s a new world. Everything has been modernized, right from our bedrooms up to our workspaces.

As such, most people spend more time seated than ever before.

But the question is, “does too much sitting have any negative impact on our health?”

We’ll find out the answer to this in this article.

There’s an increase in the number of people sitting these days

Sitting is a form of posture. People maintain a seated position when they work, study, travel, or socialize.

The average office worker spends an average of 15 hours a day sitting.

But that’s not to say that sitting is an entirely harmless behavior. Frankly, sitting and other sedentary postures cause some harm to the body. In most cases, people spend over half of their day sitting, engaging in activities such as working on the computer, watching movies, or driving.

Studies have shown that the average office worker spends an average of 15 hours a day sitting. Conversely, a person working on a farm may spend just three hours sitting (1, 2).

When you sit too much, you burn fewer calories.

We burn calories anytime we engage in our activities of daily living. Even simple non-exercise activities like walking, fidgeting, and standing help us to burn calories.

Energy expended in this form is known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). It is important to note that a lack of this activity (NEAT) contributes to weight gain (3).

Sedentary acts like lying down and sitting do not expend much energy. As such, the number of calories that you burn will be severely limited.

Let’s consider agricultural workers. Studies have shown that the number of calories they burn is 1000 times higher than that of people who do desk jobs (4).

This is because most agricultural workers spend a large chunk of their time standing and walking.

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When you sit, your risk of weight gain is increased

Burning fewer calories increases your risk of weight gain. This explains why people who lead sedentary lives are mostly obese.

Studies have shown that obese people sit at least two hours more than people with a healthy weight (5).

A sedentary life is linked to early death

Data collected from observing over a million people revealed that leading a sedentary life puts a person at risk of early death.

Studies have shown that the risk of death among sedentary people is 22–49% higher (6).

Sedentary behavior is also associated with chronic diseases

Studies have associated a consistent sedentary behavior with at least 30 chronic diseases. This includes a 147% increase in one’s risk of heart disease and a 112% increase in the risk of type 2 diabetes (6).

Research has also shown that not walking up to 1500 steps daily or sitting for a long time causes a rise in insulin resistance, driving type 2 diabetes (7).

Medical researchers think that leading a sedentary life may have a direct impact on insulin resistance. It is also worth knowing that this effect may occur in less than a day.

What you should do instead

Without a doubt, there’s a lot of sitting in Western societies.

However, while relaxing isn’t bad in itself, you must reduce the amount of time that you spend sitting at work.

If you’re doing a desk job, then invest in a standing desk. Ergonomics in the work environment is important. You can also take short walks while at work.

Reducing the amount of time spent sitting is as important to your health as regular exercise and a healthy diet.

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References

  1. Dunstan, D. W., Howard, B., Healy, G. N., & Owen, N. (2012). Too much sitting — a health hazard. Diabetes research and clinical practice, 97(3), 368–376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2012.05.020
  2. Levine, J. A., McCrady, S. K., Boyne, S., Smith, J., Cargill, K., & Forrester, T. (2011). Non-exercise physical activity in agricultural and urban people. Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland), 48(11), 2417–2427. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098010379273
  3. Villablanca, P. A., Alegria, J. R., Mookadam, F., Holmes, D. R., Jr, Wright, R. S., & Levine, J. A. (2015). Nonexercise activity thermogenesis in obesity management. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 90(4), 509–519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2015.02.001
  4. Levine J. A. (2014). Lethal sitting: homo sedentarius seeks answers. Physiology (Bethesda, Md.), 29(5), 300–301. https://doi.org/10.1152/physiol.00034.2014
  5. Levine, J. A., Lanningham-Foster, L. M., McCrady, S. K., Krizan, A. C., Olson, L. R., Kane, P. H., Jensen, M. D., & Clark, M. M. (2005). Interindividual variation in posture allocation: possible role in human obesity. Science (New York, N.Y.), 307(5709), 584–586. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1106561
  6. Wilmot, E. G., Edwardson, C. L., Achana, F. A., Davies, M. J., Gorely, T., Gray, L. J., Khunti, K., Yates, T., & Biddle, S. J. (2012). Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and death: systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabetologia, 55(11), 2895–2905. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-012-2677-z
  7. Krogh-Madsen, R., Thyfault, J. P., Broholm, C., Mortensen, O. H., Olsen, R. H., Mounier, R., Plomgaard, P., van Hall, G., Booth, F. W., & Pedersen, B. K. (2010). A 2-wk reduction of ambulatory activity attenuates peripheral insulin sensitivity. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md.: 1985), 108(5), 1034–1040. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00977.2009