Why sitting can literally kill you.

By Andy

There is a lot of buzz out there about some new studies and findings that should come to no surprise yet in our world today seems to be shocking news. The more we sit around in sloth, correlates directly to a higher mortality rate. What they found was undoubtedly interesting, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a pivotal discovery. As far as no-brainers go, this one should be up there with the warnings on coffee cups that the beverage may be scalding hot.

All jokes aside, what one research group out of Australia found was that for every hour you spend sitting you can expect a statistical decrease of 22 minutes from your lifespan. Now I am not one to jump all over these type of statistics. Our lives are extremely dynamic and there are so many other variables towards ones health than time spent sitting inactive but, this is an alarming number. One hour of sitting can take 1/3 of an hour off your life, all things considered. This would equate to almost 5 years if your frequently sit for 6 hours a day over your lifespan. Another study, showed that of people aged over 45 years who sat for 11 hours a day were 40% more likely to die within the next three years. Another very awakening piece of statistics if you ask me.

The underlying cause here is the way our body reacts to inactivity. Humans evolved on the move. It was essential to live. If you weren't moving about, forging for food you would starve. Even in the last 50 years our butts have began to mold more and more into the shape of an office chair. Look at agriculture. In the past, farms were small scale, family run, and hard work. Today, we have built such giant farms at such an efficient scale that we have taken much of the hard labor out of it. Small farms can't complete, and farmland is being over taken into suburbs. As I step down from that soap box, keep in mind that this is the case with many industries. Manufacturing has become automated. Life is simply changed at a faster rate than our evolution can adapt.

Sitting causes our body to go into rest mode. Once in rest, our body is very efficient at energy conservation.  Look at it from the the eye of our ancestors. If we weren't able to move around and gather food or farm the land, we better be able to conserve as best we can in order to make it till tomorrow. Our body loses it's resistance to insulin. Glucose runs free in our blood stream, and cholesterol is mobilized. All these changes lead to increased risks in diabetes, and heart disease. No surprise right?

You may argue, yes I sit at work for 9 hours a day but, I go to the gym and run on the treadmill for 45min after work. The thing we need to consider for this argument is that there are still 23 hours and 15min in the day. This is a very small portion. Activity needs to be build into everyday life. When I say activity, I am not saying that you need to run for hours or live in the gym. It's simple activity such as walking around, doing chores, anything that keeps you busy.

We can all stand to add a little more activity into our lives. In today's society we have learned that sitting is a time for relaxation after a long day. I say nonsense, go for a walk, ride a bike, rake some leaves, you might find this to be much more relaxing and meditative than sitting in front of the television set. I once heard someone mention that the chair was the invention that spurred the downfall of mankind. With these awakening new studies, I tend to agree. Now, I've been writing this for around 45 minutes. I believe it's time to get up.