Everyone in this fast-paced environment, from youngsters to adults, spends about 80% of their waking hours sitting down.
From young children in schools to adults in colleges, and especially for those working a 9 to 5, the never-ending labor forces one to sit in one location for hours at a time.
Sitting is pretty natural, and while some people enjoy sitting for hours on end, others are forced to do so.
It may seem usual to sit in front of laptops or libraries, but doing so has an impact on one’s physique.
The effects of excessive sitting on one’s health and body, according to researchers, can be significant.
Due to the fact that sitting still for extended periods without making any significant movements increases body fat and even slows metabolism.
Even some people claim that sitting has replaced smoking. We are all aware of how detrimental smoking is to one’s health, so this statement is concerning.
Researchers discovered that persons who sit still for longer than eight hours without engaging in any physical activity or movement had a similar chance of passing away to those who smoke or suffer from obesity.
How much should one sit?
Every age group spends most of their days sitting down because there is no other way to complete their tasks. One doesn’t even realize how much they sit throughout the day because it’s a routine part of daily living.
According to researchers, sitting still for longer than eight hours could be extremely hazardous for one’s health.
It should be clear that 8 hours is a long time even without any physical exertion.
Causes of Sitting more
We sit a lot as humans, it’s a fact.
The danger of contracting numerous chronic diseases is one of the causes of sitting more. Here are a few of them: :
- Heart problems are caused by excessive sitting. A person’s chance of experiencing cardiac arrest is enhanced if they spend a lot of time sitting still.
- Too much-sitting results in weight gain because there isn’t any movement. The body digests quickly and the metabolism is strong when someone exercises or even just walks every day. One is more likely to gain weight if they don’t exercise because their body won’t be able to digest their food.
- Do you frequently complain about having pain in your neck and shoulders? Well, if you spend a lot of time sitting down, you already know why this is happening to you. Most of the time, we’re hunched over, which hurts our posture and is uncomfortable.
- Sitting with poor posture causes back discomfort, and prolonged sitting causes leg pain, which leads to frequent complaints of back and leg pain. It even causes hip pain, which leads to joint pain from lack of significant movement. Joint flexibility is reduced, and there is excruciating pain.
- People who sit more frequently have a higher risk of developing cancer, according to researchers, albeit the exact causes of this are still unknown.
- Sitting too many results in less movement of blood throughout the body and especially in one’s legs which causes diseases like varicose veins.
- people who sit more are more likely to suffer from diabetes as sitting lessens one’s physical activity.
How to save one from the dangers of sitting?
Even though you exercise every day, but still sit for longer periods of time. It’s still very harmful to people.
We don’t even realize what’s affecting our bodies.
These are some ways how to save one from sitting less :
- One should engage in activities like walking every day and cycling. This helps in the proper movement of one’s hips and legs and results in maintaining the flexibility of joints.
- If one’s not getting much time to walk or cycle, one should use stairs instead of elevators. This helps in the movement of the legs.
- One should take a break from sitting every 30-45 minutes. So that they make some body movement and help in blood flow of the body.
- When talking on the phone, one can walk while talking so as to maintain some physical activity throughout the day.
Some stretches one can engage themselves in while sitting
Stretches are very important for one’s body and after sitting for a long time, they’re literally mandatory.
Here are some stretches one can do easily while sitting at their desk, at the office, or at home.
- One can engage in shoulder stretch. It’s a very easy exercise and helps one stretch their shoulders and avoid pain. One can do this while standing and even sitting.
- Hand stretching helps in the relief of pain in fingers and hands and ensures movement in them. One can do this while sitting easily as they just have to use their hands.
- Arm stretches are quite helpful and one can use the arm across the chest technique to get relief from pain and have some movement in their body.
- Triceps stretch helps in one’s hand movement and try the close grip and close reverse grip exercise as it’s one of the best exercises for this.
- Shoulder and chest stretch reduces the tightness of shoulders and chest which happens from not moving.
People can suffer from depression and anxiety too if they’re sitting more and not engaging in physical activities.
Everything in excess results in having disadvantages and sitting, which is quite normal for everyone, people even spend up to 15 hours sitting, without even noticing are at greater risk.
For having a healthy body, it’s mandatory to engage in physical activities. And clearly sitting for hours won’t help in that. Sitting is something that cannot be avoided or deleted from one’s life. It’s not something that can go away if we diet but surely one should take breaks from sitting and add movement to their daily routine to stay healthy.
