Posts Tagged ‘sitting duck’

You thought big butts are a problem, they are when glued to a chair. Scientists are warning that sitting for long periods of time is dangerous to your health.

Getting up from the couch means that you don’t plop down on the nearest chair, it seems that sitting is just as dangerous as reclining all day.

Now What?

In an editorial published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define physical activity to highlight the dangers of sitting. There are many reasons why a lack of activity is lethal.

“After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals,” Ekblom-Bak said. She explained that genes regulating the amount of glucose and fat in the body start to shut down.

Figures from a U.S. survey in 2003-2004 found Americans spend more than half their time sitting, from working at their desks to sitting in cars.

A study by Nielsen Co, a ratings company, found that Americans spent an average of 151 hours a month viewing the TV during the fourth quarter of 2008, Even for people who exercise, spending long stretches of time sitting at a desk is still harmful.

Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every day — but still spend a lot of time sitting — might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single bout.

Another Look

One study suggested a woman’s risk of metabolic syndrome, a precursor to diabetes and heart disease, jumps 26% for every extra hour she sits in front of the TV. Whole-body muscular inactivity associated with prolonged sitting has also been strongly linked to obesity and even certain types of cancer.

What we are looking at is a future trend. Everyone saw it coming as we totally switched to hIgh-frequency living. We have been winding down from a manual society to a pain free no gain much weaker addition. I call it our Waterloo, a pace that can break us as we move like snails through life. What we call a fast paced life that has people using more technology, while at the same time transforming us into a new level of physical decline.

 It’s Come to This

A new editorial published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine said that people who sit still for long periods of time — such as desk workers or couch potatoes — have a higher risk of disease than those who move a muscle every now and then in a non-exercise manner, such as walking up the stairs to grab a cup of coffee.  

From the computer, to the desk top games, and television, we may show our prowess playing video games, but we may be a zero when displaying our physical strength. Unless walking up the stairs to grab a cup of coffee is an extra ordinary accomplishment.

Crisis

Researchers in Australia found the increase in mortality that came from spending too many hours sitting in front of the TV. This held true even when people exercised regularly.

The study, appeared in the journal Circulation, is the work of lead author Dr.David Dunstan, a researcher at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, and colleagues.

For six years Dunstan and colleagues followed 8,800 people aged 25 and over  who took part in the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study and found that the participants who watched four or more hours a day watched TV were 46 per cent more likely to succumb to any cause and 80 percent more likely to become a statistic from cardiovascular disease compared to people who said they spend less than two hours in a day watching TV.

Get up

Adapting to survive in the world of webinars, American Idol, and video gaming is a new challenge. You need to have more positions than reclining, and sitting. You can’t afford to be a sitting duck. We will show you how to pick up your activity level, get up and get going. Stay tuned and we will show you how to turn down the electronics and turn up your conditioning