Sitting too long results in bad health
By admin on 2014-12-26

Although the research is preliminary, several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die as a result.
 
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. While health officials have issued guidelines recommending minimum amounts of physical activity, there is little or no advice suggesting people limit how much time they spend sitting.
 
"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. 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 benefit more if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single event.
 
Aytekin Can, 31, works at a London financial company and spends most of his days sitting in front of a computer. Can teaches jiu jitsu, a Japanese martial art involving wrestling, several evenings a week, and also partakes in Thai boxing. "I'm sure there are some detrimental effects of staying still for too long, but I hope that being active when I can helps," he said. "I wouldn't want to think the sitting could be that dangerous."
 
In a study published last year that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about 12 years, researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk, independently of whether or not they exercised.
 
"We don't have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad," said Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, who led the Canadian study. "But it seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary behaviour, the better."
 
Ekblom-Bak echoed this and encouraged people to get up more. "People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits. But when they're in the office, they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible," she said. "Don't just send your colleague an email. Walk over and talk to him. Standing up."
 
The belief that sitting for too long is bad for people's health is not new. In 2005 the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand in Wellington studied 62 people who suffered from deep vein thrombosis (DVT), including taxi drivers, IT workers and managers, and found 34 percent of the cases were a result of being seated for long periods at work. However, a family history of DVT was also a significant factor in getting the disease, the study said.
 
"Seated immobility as a result of either work or travel accounted for nearly half the cases. Seated immobility at work may represent an important independent risk factor," the 2005 study stated. It has long been assumed that passengers on long haul flights were mainly at risk of developingDVT, which is also known as "economy class syndrome".
 
Deep vein thrombosis is a condition where blood clots form within a deep vein, commonly in the thigh or calf. The clots can partially or completely block the flow of blood, causing swelling, pain and hypertension. If the clot travels to the lungs it can cause a pulmonary embolism, which is potentially fatal, and can kill within hours. The condition is treatable with blood thinning drugs.
 
The New Zealand study found that "seated immobility at work was identified as a risk factor" if, in a four week period prior to the onset of symptoms, a worker had been seated for three hours at a time without getting up during an eight-hour shift. The study said that workers in an IT industry call center were at risk if they remained seated for more than one hour at a time without getting up over a period of up to 12 hours a day.
 
"Deskbound people in front of a computer, like IT workers or call center workers, can be seated for 12 to 14 hours a day, day after day," institute director Richard Beasley said, "Many times they don't get up for three to four hours." This resulted in more cases of DVT involving people seated for long periods at work, according to Beasley.
 
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.