Your chair may feel comfortable. However, it could be harming your health. Many people sit for hours each day at work, in school, or at home. Unfortunately, prolonged sitting increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and chronic pain. If you value your health, it is time to rethink your relationship with your chair.
Is Your Chair the New Smoking?
For years, smoking topped the list of preventable health risks. Today, prolonged sitting is earning the same reputation. In fact, experts now describe sitting as “the new smoking.”
People with sitting jobs face nearly twice the risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those with standing jobs. Unlike standing, sitting requires very little muscle activity. As a result, your body burns fewer calories and slows important metabolic processes.
When you remain in your chair for long periods, enzymes that help break down fat drop significantly. Good cholesterol levels may also fall. Over time, insulin becomes less effective. Consequently, your risk of type 2 diabetes rises.
What Happens to Your Body When You Sit Too Long
When you sit for extended hours, your body enters what experts call the “physiology of inactivity.” Although you feel relaxed, your body experiences stress.
Calorie burning drops to very low levels. Blood circulation slows. Furthermore, prolonged sitting contributes to back pain, neck strain, and knee discomfort. The longer you remain seated, the greater the strain on your spine and joints.
Even regular exercise does not completely cancel out the damage of sitting all day. Therefore, daily movement must become a priority, not an afterthought.
Simple Ways to Reduce Chair Time and Protect Your Heart
Fortunately, you can reduce the risks linked to your chair. Small changes make a big difference.
First, schedule movement breaks every hour. Stand, stretch, or walk for at least one to two minutes.
Next, use the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible. Walk to a colleague’s desk instead of calling or sending a message.
You can also try walk meetings. Walking while discussing ideas keeps everyone alert and improves focus. Moreover, it reduces the temptation to scroll on mobile devices.
At home, stand during commercial breaks. Avoid lying down for long hours beyond adequate sleep. Even standing for short periods helps.
Whenever in doubt, choose movement over your chair.
Well some people are trying innovative ways of even having small treadmills at their desk that keeps them moving, others are adopting a new chair design that essentially makes you stand at your desk, a few others sit on exercise balls that forces them to adjust their positions all the time but for the rest of us simply taking breaks and using every opportunity to move is just what the doctor prescribed.
AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, ENSURE HYGIENE, WALK AND PRAY EVERY DAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, BMI)
Health Essentials/Medics Clinic
*Dr. Essel is a medical doctor with a keen interest in Lifestyle Medicine, He holds an MBA and is ISSA certified in exercise therapy, fitness nutrition and corrective exercise. He is the author of the award-winning book, ‘Unravelling The Essentials of Health & Wealth.’
Thought for the week – For good heart health; exercise often, eat healthy, do not smoke, minimize alcohol and sit less.
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