Sitting is the new smoking

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Modern society is plagued by excessive periods of sitting and inactivity. The excessive sitting times and sedentary behaviour seem to have the greatest  impact on our overall  health regardless of whether or not we exercise!

A recent review in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that people who are sedentary for six to nine hours a day have a much higher risk of death, cancer, and heart disease. The greatest risk seems to come in the form of developing diabetes.

According to the study, moderate physical activity made it a little better but not by much.

It’s the DURATION we sit at one time that matters the most.

The people who sit for a long time don’t burn as many calories. This naturally means they will weigh more, their joints won’t be as flexible or as ready for physical activity. And overall, they’re going to have a slower metabolism, higher levels of toxicity through their whole bodies, and they’ll be way more likely to develop chronic diseases than people who stand, walk, or otherwise move their bodies for the majority of the day.

To avoid sitting yourself to death, the following simple strategies can be followed:

• After eating, move your body a bit before you sit down.
• Take frequent standing or walking breaks. 
• Limit sitting to under 30 minutes
• Take 10,000 steps or more per day. Exercising this way moves glucose out of your blood and into your muscles quickly.
• Engage in 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week. 
• Engage in resistance (strength) training two days per week. This is important for your bones and for your overall strength as you get older. Strength training improves muscle mass and metabolism. It also helps you not gain as much weight and helps to prevent osteoporosis.