Does your lifestyle demands for prolonged sitting every day? Long hours of sitting day-in and day-out may affect your health adversely beyond your imagination.
God has bestowed you with a body designed for constant movement all day long. When you keep sitting for a long period of time, your body system shuts down. It may bring you closer to death by interrupting healthy working of various organs. Long hours of sitting slows down the blood flow and makes the muscles to burn less fat. This may make fatty acids to block your heart leading to various heart diseases.
People who sit for 10 or more hours a day may have a significantly greater risk of developing colon, breast and endometrial cancers. It can be due to excess insulin production that may encourage cell growth or lack of antioxidants in your body may potentially lead to the growth of cancer-causing free radicals. Excess amount of insulin production by pancreas may lead to diabetes also. If after having food, you keep sitting, your digestion becomes weak. A poor digestion may lead to bloating, cramping, heartburn and constipation. You may feel dull and sluggish as when you sit for long your brain gets less fresh blood and oxygen. It has a bad impact on brain and mood enhancing chemicals.
Sitting puts excess pressure on your backbone. It puts strain on your neck and lead to sore shoulders along with permanent imbalances to you cervical vertebrae. After sitting for long when you get up, a number of molecular cascades occur. Within one-and-a-half minute after you leave your sitting posture and become active, the muscular and cellular systems that process blood sugar, triglycerides and cholesterol get activated. These cellular systems also push fuel into your cells and if not done regularly, it may radically increase your risk of diabetes and obesity.
It has been surveyed that 40 percent of people with backache have spent long hours of sitting at their computer every day. When you sit for too long, the disks in your back that absorb blood and nutrients through movement may become stiff overtime. It may increase your risk of herniated disks. It may lead to muscle degeneration, hip and leg disorders. Lack of activity may cause weak bones and even osteoporosis.
Seeing so many health problems, it can be said that long hours of sitting may shorten your lifespan. To lessen the affect, increase your day-today physical movement. Do moderate-intensify exercise daily. Climb up the stairs instead of using elevators or escalators. Park your car away from your office so that you can walk twice a day forcibly. Walk across the hall to talk to your colleagues instead of sending email or message through your mobile phone. Stand up after every hour and move around for two to three minutes.
Health comes first. Don’t compromise on it, or you may live a shorter life.