If you stand or move around during the day, you have a lower risk of early death than if you sit at a desk. If you live a sedentary lifestyle, you have a higher chance of being overweight, developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and experiencing depression and anxiety.
How does a sedentary lifestyle affect your body?
Humans are built to stand upright. Your heart and cardiovascular system work more effectively that way. Your bowel also functions more efficiently when you are upright. It is common for people who are bedridden in hospital to experience problems with their bowel function.
When you are physically active, on the other hand, your overall energy levels and endurance improve, and your bones maintain strength.
Legs and gluteals (bum muscles)
Sitting for long periods can lead to weakening and wasting away of the large leg and gluteal muscles. These large muscles are important for walking and for stabilizing you. If these muscles are weak, you are more likely to injure yourself from falls, and from strains when you do exercise.
Weight
Moving your muscles helps your body digest the fats and sugars you eat. If you spend a lot of time sitting, digestion is not as efficient, so you retain those fats and sugars as fat in your body.
Even if you exercise but spend a large amount of time sitting, you are still risking health problems. The latest research suggests you need 60–75 minutes per day of moderate-intensity activity to combat the dangers of excessive sitting.
Hips and back
Just like your legs and gluteals, your hips and back will not support you as well if you sit for long periods. Sitting causes your hip flexor muscles to shorten, which can lead to problems with your hip joints.
Sitting for long periods can also cause problems with your back, especially if you consistently sit with poor posture or don’t use an ergonomically designed chair or workstation. Poor posture may also cause poor spine health such as compression in the discs in your spine, leading to premature degeneration, which can be very painful.
Anxiety and depression
We don’t understand the links between sitting and mental health as well as we do the links between sitting and physical health yet, but we do know that the risk of both anxiety and depression is higher in people that sit more.
This might be because people who spend a lot of time sitting are missing the positive effects of physical activity and fitness. If so, getting up and moving may help.
Stiff neck and shoulders
If you spend your time hunched over a computer keyboard, this can lead to pain and stiffness in your neck and shoulders.
How sedentary are we?
Physical inactivity contributes to over three million preventable deaths worldwide each year (that’s six per cent of all deaths). It is the fourth leading cause of death due to non-communicable diseases.
It’s also the cause of 21–25 % of breast and colon cancers, 27% of diabetes cases, and around 30 per cent of ischaemic heart disease.
The National Health Survey results show:
- Nearly one in four (24.5%) people aged 18-64 years met the physical activity guidelines.
- Less than one in ten Australian children aged 15-17, do the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
- Fewer than one in three children and young people have no more than two hours of screen time each day.
- Nearly half (49%) of employed people aged 18-64 years described their day at work as mostly sitting.
How can you protect your health from the dangers of sitting?
If you’re not getting enough activity in your day, it’s not too late to turn it around and gain great health benefits in the process.
Build more activity into your day
Some ways you can incorporate activity into your day are:
- Walk or cycle and leave the car at home.
- For longer trips, walk or cycle part of the way.
- Use the stairs instead of the lift or escalator, or at least walk up the escalator.
- Get off the bus one stop early and walk the rest of the way.
- Park further away from wherever you’re going and walk the rest of the way.
- Calculate how long it takes you to walk one kilometer – you may find you can reach your destination faster by walking than if you wait for public transport.
Be active (and safe)
If you’re new to physical activity, or if you have a health condition, speak to your doctor before you start any new activities. They can help you decide the best activities for you.
If you’re getting active outdoors, remember to protect yourself from the sun by applying sunscreen and wearing sun-protective clothing, including a hat.
Be active at work
You can move around at work more than you think:
- Take the stairs instead of the lift.
- Walk over and talk to your colleagues instead of emailing them.
- Take your lunch break away from your desk and enjoy a short walk outside if you can.
- Organize walking meetings.
Be active indoors
Don’t let bad weather stop you from being active! You can do body weight exercises such as squats, sit-ups, and lunges.
You can also try indoor activities such as:
- dancing
- swimming at an indoor pool
- yoga
- Pilates
- martial arts
- squash
- indoor rock climbing.
Reduce your sedentary behavior
Here are some simple ideas to keep you moving while you’re at home:
- When you’re tidying up, put items away in small trips rather than taking it all together.
- Set the timer on your television to turn off an hour earlier than usual to remind you to get up and move.
- Walk around when you’re on the phone.
- Stand up and do some ironing during your favorite television shows.
- Rather than sitting down to read, listen to recorded books while you walk, clean, or work in the garden.
- Stand on public transport or get off one stop early and walk to your destination.
If you work in an office:
- Stand up while you read emails or reports.
- Move your rubbish bin away from your desk so you have to get up to throw anything away.
- Use the speaker phone for conference calls and walk around the room during the calls.
-- Sara Carpenter, DPT