These days, people are spending more time sitting. A typical desk job, for example, goes from 40 to almost 50 hours a week. Then, as soon as you go home or during the weekends, you spend around 3 to 4 hours watching movies and TV shows.
While it's definitely important to sit since it relaxes your body and lowers your stress level, prolonged sitting can do more harm than good. If you're wondering how, we can take a lead from an article published by Mic.com.
One of the biggest effects of sitting for too long is weight gain. Many employees end up gaining at least 6 pounds due to office eating. In addition, sitting decreases the amount of calories burned by as much as 50 per hour. In other words, every week, you store more than 2,000 calories per week.
Prolonged sitting can be very harmful to the heart. Blood flow is more sluggish, giving the fatty acid a chance to clog up the arteries. As more of these fatty acids build up and plaque forms, the path of the blood narrows, forcing the heart to work much harder to deliver the same amount of blood to the entire body. Sitting therefore increases the level of blood cholesterol and blood pressure.
Sitting may also reduce your balance as it puts some strain on the vertebrae especially in your neck. When you're sitting, you tend to lean your body forward to look at the monitor or bend the heat to see the keyboard. You may also tilt it when you try to make some phone calls.
It also increases the risk of insulin resistance, which, when not handled quicker, may lead to type 2 diabetes. It's because muscle cells are less receptive of the hormone when the muscles are not used or are idle.
Prolonged sitting can also cause foggy brain, increased risk of colon cancer, and muscle degeneration.
