First, I'm going to tell you about the latest discoveries about
'sitting too much' and it's impact your your health.
In short:
Sitting too much is
not the same
as exercising too little.
Then, I'll give you some easy-fix solutions so you can turn it
around.
The Problem
It ain't new. Surprisingly, as far back as the 17th century,
physician Bernardo Ramazzini noted the relationship between sedentary
behavior and harmful consequences to health. We now know without a
doubt that sedentary behavior has its own set of special effects on
human metabolism, physical function, and health outcomes.
It's not
enough that we're getting your workouts in. We also need to take a
serious look at the size of those chunks of time we spend sitting and
reclining.
Sedentary: A definition
Not long ago, when we referred to someone as sedentary, it meant
that they were not getting much physical activity. So if, for example,
you were exercising for an hour or so a day, you could call yourself
physically active. You would be called sedentary if you only got a few
minutes of activity on a regular basis.
But this view is changing rapidly as researches discover that
sedentary time is positively related to health risk regardless of
how much physical activity you get in every day. In this case,
positive is not good.
Inactive physiology
Yes, it has a name! Too much sitting has its own pathology. Recent
evidence suggests that sedentary behavior has a direct influence on
metabolism, bone mineral content, and vascular health.
5 damaging physiological effects of sedentary behavior
Too much sitting leads to the following, all of which increase the
metabolic risk factors for type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease,
independent of the body-protective properties of structured exercise.
- increased triglyceride levels
- decreased levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL)
cholesterol (the 'good' cholesterol)
- decreased insulin sensitivity
- metabolic syndrome
- suppressed lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity in
skeletal muscle, the rate-limiting enzyme for hydrolysis of triglyceride
(TG)-rich lipoproteins.
Remember, lipoprotien lipase is an enzyme that has the job of
extracting particles of fat in your blood and transporting them to one
of two places: To
your fat cells for storage or to you muscle cells to be used for
energy. Physical activity slows down the LPL in fat tissues - making it
harder to store fat - and increases LPL activity in the skeletal
muscle, pushing fat into the muscle cells to be used for energy. This
is obviously desireable.
On the other hand, physical inactivity
does the opposite, increasing your body's activity in the fat tissue
and slowing it down in the muscles. The result? You store fat more
easily. Oh great.
Are you a sedentarist?
Geez, another new word! Are you a sedentarist?
Whereas sedentary is a distinct class of behaviors such as
sitting, passively watching TV, and driving, for all activities
characterized by little physical movement and low energy expenditure -
we now have the new vocabulary kid on the block: Sedentarism.
Sedentarism refers to extended engagement in sedentary behaviors. A
sedentarist would thus be someone who spends extended periods of time
with minimal movement, low energy expenditure, and rest. Unbroken
periods of inactivity.
An eye-opening study was conducted to examine the effect of just 5
days of complete bed rest on the metabolic health of 22 adult
volunteers. The participants stayed in bed for over 23.5 hours a day.
Lani Muelrath, M.A, the Plant-Strong Fitness Expert and creator of