Not exercising regularly can make you obese. This is something we have heard commonly from fitness enthusiasts. But did you know that sitting for long hours is as dangerous as smoking? Sitting for straight 8-9 hours causes your mobility to drastically decrease and hence, increases the risk of heart diseases. A study published in 2017 in the Annals of Internal Medicine says that sitting for long hours can increase the risk of early death.
The research shows statistics on how a sedentary lifestyle increase the risk of mortality and hospitalization. The paper says that adults are suggested to do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of physical activity in bouts of 10 minutes or more. This reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and a few types of cancer. However, the study also suggested that physical activity and sedentary lifestyle may be “mutually exclusive”. People who exercise regularly might actually have a more sedentary lifestyle during the rest of their day if they don’t move around regularly.
The research stated that participants who sat less (less than 30 minutes at a stretch) and moved more had 55% lower risk of cardiovascular diseases and mortality than those who sat for 30 minutes or more at a stretch. However, participants who sat more than 90 minutes at a time were almost twice as much at risk of early death than those who always sat less than 90 minutes at a stretch.
The paper also mentioned that participants who sat more than 13 hours per day had 200% more risk of mortality and other diseases than the ones who sat less than 11 hours a day.
When you sit, the blood flow in your body slows down and fatty acids build up in blood vessels making us prone to heart diseases. Sitting for too long can also make us insulin resistant, making us prone to type 2 diabetes and obesity. Hence, a sedentary lifestyle can cause immense damage to us without our knowledge.
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