We must all cringed at the anti-tobacco advertisements before movies in cinema halls. There are horrific and gory. But we all acknowledge the harm that smoking causes to our health, we are less aware of the adverse effects of sitting too long.
While our lives have become fast-paced and hectic, it is also true that most professionals spend longs hours of the day on desks. This sedentary lifestyle may be causing more harm than we think.
Researchers at the Columbia University Medical Centre, led by Keith Diaz have revealed that people who stay sedentary for much of their waking time — 12.5 hours or more a day — have the highest risk of death from any cause. Staying still for an hour or 90 minutes at a time makes things worse. Studies have linked excessive sitting with being overweight and obese, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, and early death.
If your routine day involves such long hours of sitting, it does not matter if you squeeze in an hour of gym or swimming in the morning or go for a run in the evening. You need to distribute your movement across the day. The lead author of the study suggested moving around every 30 minutes to stay fit.
Kate Hudson moves around and dances when she feels like throughout the day. Just gymming for a specified time during the day is not her style for fitness.
Sitting for too long mars the metabolic rate and causes coronary related illnesses like blood pressure, abnormal levels of blood sugar, cholesterol and body fat. Not only diet, but holistic lifestyle is important to counter these health conditions.
You can set alarms in your cell reminding you to move every hour or so. Apple CEO Tim Cook too has such reminders for himself.
Engage in some walking or stretching exercises every half hour. Keep your bag away from the desk, so you are compelled to move. You can also do some yoga exercises at your desk.
So get a move on to save yourself from chairy threat.
