Health risks of a sedentary lifestyle |21 April 2023

We live in a world where globalisation has done more harm than good. While it’s great that many countries are technologically advanced and we continue to see improvements in many aspects of our lives, there are many areas where we continue to fall short. Having a sedentary lifestyle with very limited physical activity is one of them.

We have on many occasions talked about the health benefits of physical activity. Although you may not be an elite athlete, any form of physical activity you do in a day is better than none at all.

Physical inactivity is among the top risk factors for global mortality but there is not enough emphasis being put on reducing sedentary behaviours. While it’s easy to tell someone to do more exercise it may be more challenging to ask them to sit less.

This is especially true when we look at how most of us live our lives. Many of us now have jobs that are more sedentary, with many hours in a day spent sitting at a desk. To worsen this situation commuting to work or simply moving around also involves sitting, either in a car, on a motorcycle or on the bus.

A sedentary lifestyle

Many of us nowadays lead a sedentary lifestyle. Most times however it is not by choice but simply because of the way society has evolved. Being sedentary of course means that a person is inactive for long periods of time during the day, either sitting or lying down with little to no exercise. In the end therefore there is very minimal movements taking place.

When we go a little deeper we find that there are many reasons why a person may end up being physically inactive and therefore more prone to becoming sedentary, albeit at times not by choice.

Daily activities where sitting is encouraged such as having a desk job, or being in class the whole day or being stuck in traffic due to congestion are beyond our control. There are also factors that do not encourage physical activity such as lack of safe pedestrian walkways, cycle lanes or lack of sports facilities.

Many of us in our leisure time don’t feel like doing any form of physical activity. So we choose to sit down or lie down and watch our favourite shows on television or play video games and increasingly now we spend a lot of time on social media via our phone or tablets. Sedentary behaviours show no signs of abating in the future as it affects all life stages.

Health risks of a sedentary lifestyle

Sitting or lying down for long periods of time will eventually take a toll on your health. Being inactive has been found to be one of the leading causes of many adverse health outcomes.

Obesity

The more time that you spend sitting or lying down, the fewer calories (energy) that your body uses up. Your body stores unused energy as fat therefore the higher the chances of gaining weight over time. Beyond just gaining weight, prolonged sitting can lead to severe weight gain or obesity (excessive fat accumulation). Therefore, the more sedentary you are the higher your chances of becoming overweight or obese.

Chronic diseases

A person with a sedentary lifestyle doubles their risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and increase the risks of high blood pressure, musculoskeletal diseases such as knee pain and osteoporosis, lipid disorders and certain forms of cancer like colon cancer. Having a sedentary lifestyle has also been found to have an impact on our mental health and can lead to depression and anxiety.

Early death

Although it may seem far-fetched there is irrefutable evidence linking a sedentary lifestyle with early death. It’s been found that having a sedentary lifestyle in fact increases all causes of mortality. And the more sedentary you are, the higher your health risks are and the higher the likeliness of early death.

Get moving

At home

The best way to move at home is through house chores such as sweeping, mopping, gardening or yard work. To get a much higher intensity try doing these activities at a more vigorous pace.It might sound a bit strange but another great way to sit less is to move around while watching television. Maybe you can try some gentle yoga stretches or lifting weights or an exercise bike if you have one.

Try and do some workout at home using a workout video with the use of inexpensive equipment like a yoga ball, stretch bands, hand weights and skipping rope. If you love the outdoors, then consider walking. That can include walking the dog, walking the kids to school or walking with a friend or family member.

At work

It may seem impossible to do any physical activity at work. One of the best ways to break up long periods of sitting is by standing up every half hour and going for a walk at least once every hour. Another great technique to get off your chair is to stand up and walk around while answering phone calls. Although it’s uncommon consider having a walking or standing meeting with your colleagues instead of sitting for hours on end in a conference room.

Irreversible damage from prolonged sitting

You may think that you have a much lower risk of having health problems because even if you sit for 10 hours straight for instance, you have a one-hour session at the gym or an aerobics class several times a week. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as that.

Regardless of your daily exercise habit, sitting for long periods of time with no activity at all will eventually lead to some health problems. Of course someone who does absolutely no movement or exercise at all are worse off but don’t think that you’re off the hook by doing a workout to try and offset the harmful impacts of your 10 hours sitting for the day.

Are you sitting too much? Reducing the risks of prolonged sitting simply involves standing and moving more. So what are you waiting for? Get moving as of today to improve you overall health.

Thank you for joining us this week on our Eat for Our Health page. Look us up on social media - eat for our health Seychelles on Facebook.

Please get in touch by emailing eat4ourhealth@gmail.com and let us know how you’re doing with these ideas, or better still, let us know how we can help you.

Yours in health

The E4OH team