Hello there and welcome to my 112th blog.
Four and a half years ago, I wrote a blog on the sitting syndrome. I glossed over the dangers of sitting too much and I touched on ways in which we can decrease the time that we spend sitting.
Having treated the elderly folk for the last four years and having seen the after effects of the pandemic on so many people, I feel that it is necessary to revisit this, as I believe, that sitting syndrome has properly become sitting disease, and is a very real problem. Sitting disease is the term used to link the thirty four chronic conditions commonly associated with excess sitting or lack of activity.
We were born to move. Movement is a critical feature of our human development from the get-go and has been a large factor in our survival as a species. Moving apparently connects our body and mind. This was quite obvious during Covid when the limitations imposed on exercise and movement over this period caused noticeably higher levels of stress, anxiety, insomnia, and depression in many people.
I also wrote about the importance of engaging in natural movement, like jumping, crawling, hanging, throwing, catching, and climbing. Natural movement has been a daily necessity for humans for millions of years. However, this started to decline about twelve thousand years ago, with the advent of agriculture. By choosing to tend to fields, crops and domesticated animals that mostly did not wander over large areas, the distances humans had to cover were reduced considerably. Fields were cleared and unwanted vegetation, large rocks, and even bumps and depressions were removed to establish the perfect growing area for crops. This decreased the variation and amount of natural movement taking place.
Then about two hundred years ago, the industrial revolution occurred, where, in order to increase human productivity, factories were built and people in droves left the agricultural processes to work in factories. People started standing and sitting for long periods of time, and machines were built to stop people moving throughout the day. Not only did the arch enemy the office chair come into existence, but the office chair with wheels then announced its arrival. People could scoot around their office in their wheeled chair, rather than get up and move. Workers also became accustomed to living in urban centres and sitting all day long.
Then in the fifties the ubiquitous car arrived , and folks would leave their homes in the car, sit all day long at work, sit at lunch, and then sit in their car on the way home. Then at home there was television watching on gloriously comfy couches and armchairs, and people were seduced into sitting some more.
The final nail in the coffin was the advent of computers around forty years ago. Computers were at every desk at work and at home, and kids no longer played outside, but were to be found in their rooms or other areas of their home, playing computer games.
We can see that, slowly and subtly, humans transferred, in over just a couple of hundred years, ( a short period of time in the evolution of huma being) from being entirely leg based during the day, taking the odd break to sit, to now becoming almost entirely chair-based taking occasional breaks to stand and walk.
This evolutionary mismatch has wreaked havoc with our bodies, our overall health, our psychological states, and our lives,
Another term for this decrease in movement, is movement poverty, otherwise known as physical inactivity. The world health organization has recognized the danger of this movement poverty and have suggested that we all take ownership and responsibility for reintegrating physical activity into our lives.
What seems so sad is that, even though we have increasing medical technology, worldwide health is declining.
All flipping scary!
So, what are the effects of prolonged sitting?
- Leg and bum muscles
Extended periods of sitting lead to weakening and wasting of the large leg and gluteal muscles. These muscles are important for walking and stabilizing your posture. If these are weak, you will be more prone to falling and injuring yourself, or straining your back or other areas when you do formal exercise.
- Weight
Moving enables your body to digest the food that you eat and use the calories that you consume. Moving less and sitting more may ultimately cause weight gain due to this not happening efficiently.
- Hips and back
Sitting may cause your hip flexors (muscles in the front of your leg) to shorten which can have an adverse effect on your hip joints as your hips are not as well protected and movement becomes compromised.
Sitting for a long period of time, particularly if you consistently sit with poor posture, can wreak havoc on your back. Poor spine health such as compression of the intervertebral discs in your spine, weakened and stretched muscles, may lead to premature musculo-skeletal painful degeneration.
- Anxiety and depression
The link between sitting and mental health is not well understood as yet, but research has shown that the risk of both anxiety and depression is higher in people who sit more. This may be due to the fact that people who spend a lot of time sitting miss out on the positive effects of physical activity and fitness, and the feel-good endorphins that are released during this time.
- Cancer
Emerging studies suggest that the dangers of sitting may increase one’s chances of developing lung, uterine and colon cancer. Suggestions are that this may be because sitting is a correlate of obesity, and obesity is a risk factor for certain types of cancer.
- Heart disease
Sitting for too long a period of time has been linked to an increase in the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease or suffering a heart attack or a stroke. When you sit for too long, fatty acids may build up in the blood vessels, which could lead to heart issues. Also sitting decreases your body’s ability to process fats, and then these get stored and make affect your heart health.
- Diabetes
Sitting may lead to increased insulin resistance which could lead to the development of diabetes. This may be due to muscular passivity occurring which may increase your insulin resistance. Conversely, physical activity can significantly lower insulin levels.
- Varicose veins
These may develop as a result of blood pooling in one’s legs after sitting for a long time. This pooling may increase the pressure within the veins which may then stretch, and the walls of the veins may weaken, resulting in bulging, enlarged veins.
- Deep vein thrombosis
A Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a blood clot that develops in your legs after sustained sitting, like a long car or plane trip. If a part of the blood clot in the vein breaks off and travels, it can cut off the blood flow to the lung which causes a pulmonary embolus. This is a medical emergency and may lead to major complications or even death.
- Neck and shoulder problems
This happens often due to folk adopting an incorrect sitting posture. This overstretches and stresses the soft tissue and joints of the neck and shoulders. If finances allow, an ergonomically personally matched chair at the correct height for your laptop or computer, is a brilliant way to try to prevent this.
Are we really so sedentary?
I am afraid we are. Research shows that physical inactivity contributes to over three million deaths worldwide each year and is the fourth leading cause of death due to non-communicable diseases. Terrifying stuff!
It sounds a bit doom and gloom-like, but I believe we can aim to prevent this.
If you spend most of your working time on mobile devices :-
- Set a regular alarm on your devices to remind you to stand up and perhaps do some marching on the spot
- Swap your chair for an exercise, stability or balance fit ball which keeps you moving
- Try to eat lunch away from your workplace and have a walk before or after eating it.
- Aim to stand and walk whilst on the phone, or during conference calls or Zoom meetings, either holding the phone or putting it on speaker phone.
- There are under desk mini exercise bikes and elliptical trainers which are awesome to keep one moving. A treadmill in your workplace is also an absolute win.
- Try to organize walking meetings.
- Sit-to -stand desks are height adjustable desks that allow people to alternate between sitting and standing while working at the desk and are fantastic to keep folk moving. Have a look at these.
- Walk or cycle to work, or park further away from where you are going.
- Use stairs instead of a lift at your workplace.
- As well as moving as much as you can during your work day, structured exercise is really important.
If you are home based and would like to decrease your sedentary behaviour :-
- Walk in the garden when you are talking on the phone, as I always do.
- Stand up, stretch, or walk on the spot when binge watching your latest Netflix series. I struggle to do this.
- I listen to podcasts whilst walking in the garden or exercising on your treadmill.
- Get your dance vibe on whilst listening to your fave Abbalicious.I need to do this!
- Stand and move your legs, instead of sitting, whenever you can.
- Housework, for those without helpers, can be a really great workout.
- Find active hobbies.
- Go window shopping at a large mall, quite a cool one.
- Meet friends for walks or hikes instead of coffee, I have done this.
- Get a fitness tracker; believe me they keep you accountable.
- Limit your time for reading mails, catching up on Facebook or Instagram. I have improved hugely on this.
- Keep moving whilst travelling long distances in a car or on a plane or train, really quite important to prevent those DVT’s.
With thanks to Better Health, Dr James Levine, and Active Partnerships.
Let’s get rid of this sitting disease, so just keep moving always and forever!
Have a fantastic week.