sitting results in lost years of life!
6 Hours of sitting a day results in losing up to 5 years of life! It is the new smoking, sitting results in lost years of life.
More and more research suggests that even if you exercise regularly, you might still succumb to the ill effects of too much sitting, which is showing to affect overall health.
For example, a study published last year concluded that adults who spend an average of six hours a day in front of the TV will cut their life expectancy by nearly five years, when compared to those people who do not watch TV. Studies have also showed those who sat for longer periods of time are twice as likely to have diabetes or heart disease.
There may be health effects from prolonged sitting the activity that dominates most people’s remaining “non-exercise” waking hours. This even affects the people who do work out 30 minutes a day.
Everyone needs to avoid the temptation to stay rooted to the couch, which may be particularly important for seniors. If you’re older, you’d be wise to make a concerted effort to spend more time doing low-intensity, everyday activities anything, that will cut down on the time you spend in a seated position.
Yet another recent study found that seniors who exercise experience less depression, dementia, and other chronic health problems, including diabetes and cancer. The benefit of exercise was major and increased the odds of healthy aging as much as seven fold! Even those who didn’t start exercising until they were in their later years were still able to boost their odds around threefold.
While regular exercise is very important, it’s becoming increasingly clear that staying active and by that I mean just movement, virtually any physical movement, especially standing up as much as possible throughout the day is imperative for health and longevity.
The problem is that our modern society and our reliance on technology has reduced or even eliminated many of these opportunities for low-intensity movement and replaced it with sitting. We need to remember to get up as often as we can, even if that means setting a timer to go off every 15 minutes that will remind us.
Instead of sitting in front of the TV at night, consider doing something else, or at the very least engage in some minor activity while watching TV. Get up, get out, and live longer.
For more information about how to get up and moving contact us today. 6hours of sitting results in lost years of life, you can change your habits today.
