The Chain Smoker or Chain Sitter

“Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health”
Or
“ Smoking Can Cause a Slow and Painful Death”
Or
“ Sitting Can Be Hazardous to Your Health and May Cause a Slow and Painful Death”

I am certain you all will agree with the 1st two quotes. What about the 3rd quote, agree ?

I have been lecturing and stating this for years, now there is research out there confirming what I have been ranting in my classes and lectures.

The Los Angeles Times, May 25, 2013 edition, Anup Kanodia a physician and researcher at the Center for Personalized Health Care at Ohio State University ‘s Wexler Medical Center, said, “Sitting is the new smoking.” He cited an Australian study, which I came across about a year ago when it was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that compared sitting and smoking. According to this study, every hour of TV that people watch, presumably while sitting, cuts about 22 minutes from their lifespan, while it’s been estimated that smokers shorten their lives by about 11 minutes per cigarette.

Do you sit in an office chair, car or on your couch for more than six hours a day?

Then here are some disturbing facts you may want to consider: Besides sitting too much being hell on your posture and spinal health; Your risk of heart disease has increased by up to 64 percent. You’re shaving off seven years of quality life. You’re also more at risk for certain types of cancer. Simply put, sitting is killing you.

FYI It happens like this: Immediately after you sit down the electrical activity in your muscles slow resulting in a reduced calorie burning rate ( about a 1/3 of what it is walking). Upon sitting for a full day you experience a 40% decrease in the use of glucose by insulin. This can eventually lead to Diabetes Type II. After a year of sitting 6 or more hours a day, you will experience weight gain and an elevation of cholesterol. Some studies indicate that women can lose up to 1% of bone mass per year. Sitting for 6 hours a day for a decade or two can cut away about seven quality years of life; the years you want. It increases your risk of dying of coronary artery disease by about 64% and the overall risk of prostate cancer by 30%.

That’s the bad news. The good news: It’s easy to counteract no matter how lazy you are.

Here is a very reasonable recipe for all you chronic chain sitters:

a. Remember to stand once an hour. The body will respond well to small interruptions in sitting. Standing and walking for about a minute, bending forward and stretching carefully. Moving is the key. You should spend two minutes every hour doing a moving routine.
b. Get a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day.
For all of you and me included the best advice for the chain sitters is to perform a and b and you will be able to counteract the effects of sitting.

Dr. Steven Friedman