Sedentary lifestyle side effects
With emergence of information technology and people taking up mostly sitting work, their lifestyle, especially in urban areas, has become sedentary. On the other hand, we are becoming more materialistic by adopting an approach of having more and more newly invented appliances and equipment to help and support us in everyday life.
We are having a lot of support from mechanical and electronic devices in our day to day life. People are spending a lot of time in front of computers and smartphones for professional and personal work, study and research.This kind of sedentary and materialistic lifestyle is impacting our heath more adversely than we can realize.
Standing vs sitting or lying
People should spend more time standing as it increases energy expenditure and combat negative impacts of sedentary lifestyle, says a research. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, said we burn 45 more kilo calories while standing for six hours than sitting or lying in that period.
Standing more time also decreases chances of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, said researchers from the University of Granada, Spain. The researchers made two teams from 53 respondents – savers and spenders of energy. The study was based on the amount of energy expenditure they consumed while their switching from sitting or lying to standing.
Energy savers vs spenders
Savers consume very little energy through their activities, so the difference between burning of energy while switching from sitting or lying to standing was approximately nil, while spenders burned around 10% more energy when switching from sitting or lying to standing, said the researchers.It mostly depend on the factor of muscle mass.
People with more muscle mass use up more energy than those with less muscle mass, found the study. On the basis of findings, the researchers suggested people to spend more time standing to expend more energy instead of storing it as fat. During sitting job, get up to walk 10 steps before sitting down again,and keep changing the position, the researchers recommended.
Sedentary lifestyle health side effects
There are many reasons, you need to make crucial changes in your daily routine if you follow a sedentary lifestyle. First of all, you have to remind yourself about the side-effects of a sedentary lifestyle on your health. Below are listeda few adverse effects of sedentary lifestyle on your health.
More weight – You have more control on your weight than you know. With a sedentary lifestyle, you are gaining more weight due to expending less energy and acquiring it as fat in your body.By gaining more weight, you are inviting the risk of obesity and a number of diseases in your life.
Less flexibility – You are losing the flexibility of your muscles to your sedentary lifestyle. While this loss of flexibility increases the risk of muscle injuries, it also decreases strength of your muscles. Weaker muscle condition can harm you and your body significantly in the long run.
Osteoporosis risk – Your sedentary lifestyle weakens your bones, which become more prone to fractures. This condition is called osteoporosis. Physical activities make your bones stronger. More sitting and laying habits increase the risk of osteoporosis, in absence of enough physical activities.
Digestive problems – Since you don’t move enough, you get your metabolism slower due to less consumption of energy. As metabolism slows down, and energy consumption decreases, you accumulate the energy as fat from the food you eat. This leads to more weight gain and stomach issues.
Mental health issues – Not only physically, the sedentary lifestyle affects people mentally too. You are getting your mental health poorer with not having proper outdoor activities. Sitting and lying indoors, weather you are working or not, increase your chances of contacting stress, anxiety and depression.
Avoid side effects of sedentary lifestyle
A little care and small changes in daily routine can help you avoid the adverse effects of sedentary lifestyle. Just try to do a little more physical activity regularly, and don’t keep sitting or lying too much in a day. Following are a few steps to avoid the side-effects of sedentary lifestyle.
- Stand more or walk a few steps while working
- Go to your nearest park and have a walk of it
- Have a walk to market for grocery shopping
- Use stairs more and elevators less in daily life
- Follow home exercise routine to release energy
- Take healthy diet of fresh vegetables and fruits
