A sedentary lifestyle may not be what you
think it is. If you sit for more than eight hours a day, you qualify as having
a sedentary lifestyle. I probably just described about 95% of the population!
Students and their parents spend most of their day at a desk. It’s simply the
way our modern society is structured. Whether you are studying, in class or
working on your computer, sitting is probably what you do most of the day,
followed by a couple of hours sitting in front of the TV before you go to bed.
Researchers now believe that all this sitting could be shaving decades off our
lives. The detrimental effects of sitting on your health are profound and
aren’t mitigated by the other activity you do.
Why
sitting is bad for your health
This means that if, like me, you get plenty
of exercise, you will still suffer the negative health effects that are caused
by years of sitting. A study by the Universities of Leicester and Loughborough
found that over the 18 studies that they looked at involving 800 000 participants,
those who sat for long periods during the day were 54% more likely to get heart
disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Prof Stuart Biddle, of Loughborough University who was part
of the study had this to say: “What is clear is that anyone who spends lots of time sitting or lying
down would benefit from replacing some of that time by standing or walking.
Aside from any direct effect reducing the amount of time you spend sitting down
may have, getting more physical activity is a great way of helping maintain a
healthy weight, which is the best way of minimising your risk of Type 2
diabetes."
Prevention is better than cure
While
you can take measures to reduce the amount of time you spend in front of the TV
and include more physical activity in your daily life, it’s really tough to
reduce the amount of time you spend working at your desk. This is true for
parents and for students who have to put in the hours in front of their
computers.
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