Why Sitting Too Long Is the “New Smoking”
In our modern day lifestyles, so many people sit around for hours upon hours while sitting at their desks for work, while watching TV, or scrolling through social media on their phones. What may appear harmless is actually a huge cause of damage to the body and has experts dubbing prolonged sitting the "new smoking." It's because sitting for long periods quietly harms your body in ways you may not be even aware of.
Why Prolonged Sitting Is the "New Smoking":
1. Prolonged sitting weakens your heart. When you sit for many hours on end, your blood circulation becomes slow, your metabolism decreases, and it becomes easy to be at risk for heart disease. Smoking also works the same way by silently harming cardiovascular health over time.2. Prolonged sitting increase the risk of obesity. Burning less calories makes your body prone to weight gain and prone to losing weight is very hard (even with a proper diet). This can be attributed to one of the new causes of obesity.
3. Sitting for too long can cause a spine to be strained and muscles to become stiff, leading to back and neck pain. Office workers are also notorious for complaints of stiff shoulder and neck muscles along with pain in their lower back.
4. Sitting can raise the risk of diabetes type 2. Body's ability to manage blood sugar slows, which will eventually cause insulin resistance. Over time this will become diabetes type 2 and reason as to why sitting is being called the "new smoking."
5.sitting too long also impacts your mental health. Prolonged sitting is believed to be the cause of increasing stress and anxiety. Studies have also proven that prolonged sitting has increased causes of depression. Sitting for a long time limits the production of feel-good chemicals and also increase fatigue throughout the body.
What You Can Do to Counteract sitting For Long Periods of Time
1.Stand up more often, and on schedule ( every thirty to sixty minutes). Take little breaks standing around.2.Use a standing desk so that you are not sitting for long hours. Alternate sitting and standing every
half-hour or every forty minutes.
3.Take stretch breaks that improve your circulation and release any tight muscles.
4.Engage in exercise such as yoga, walks, or quick home workouts to stay active throughout the day.
5. Limit unnecessary phone/TV time to keep sitting to a minimum.