Sedentary Lifestyle
You will wake up, get ready for work. You will sit in the car amid traffic for sometime. You will arrive at work. You will sit at desk and check emails and do some work. You will yawn your way through your meetings in conference room. Then you may order lunch online without getting up. Eat at your desk while browsing the Internet simultaneously and doing your work. Again, you’ll get back in the car. Drive to the gym. Spend around an hour working out. Drive home back. Prepare dinner and grab a snack, sit on the couch to catch up on your series. Head to bed. Repeat! Wondering what are we talking about? A Sedentary lifestyle.
What Is A Sedentary Lifestyle?
A sedentary lifestyle is a type of lifestyle where a person doesn’t receive regular amounts of physical activity. Physical inactivity that is considered the failure to meet the recommendations of the CDC – Center for Disease Control, stating that a person should participate in a minimum of 150 mins of moderate exercise, or else 75 mins of a more vigorous regimen. Most of the health professionals also agreed that walking 10,000 steps a day is an ideal goal to set for improving your health as well as reducing the health risks caused by physical inactivity. According to the WHO – World Health Organization, 60% to 85% of the population globally doesn’t engage in enough physical activity. This makes physical inactivity in other words, sedentary lifestyle the fourth leading risk factor for the global mortality.
The Risk factors
At present, at a time when we’ve more options than ever in almost every aspect of our lives and most of us choose to be stationary!
How does not moving regularly take a toll on our healthy lifestyle? The WHO – World Health Organization estimates that lack of physical activity is associated with approximately 3.2 million deaths a year and a lot of health issues such as:
- Anxiety
- Migraines
- Cardiovascular disease
- Breast cancer
- Depression
- Colon cancer
- Diabetes
- Gout
- Spinal disc herniation
- Lipid disorders
- High blood pressure
- Skin problems such as hair loss
- Obesity
- Mortality in adults
- Osteoporosis
- Scoliosis
Let us now learn about the massive health hazards due to physical inactivity
Heart Disease
Sitting for a long time and not letting your muscles burning fat can lead to a plethora of health issues. Also, when your blood is flowing through your body at a slower pace, it gives fatty acids a better chance of clogging your heart. This can lead to coronary heart disease. A recent study found that more time men spent sitting in cars as well as women watching television, the more likely they were to have some type of heart disease.
Reduced Blood Circulation
Remaining inactive for too long slows blood circulation in your legs, this can lead to blood clots, swollen ankles, swelling as well as pain. At the scarier the end is deep vein thrombosis, that is when a blood clot forms in your legs. Eventually this clot can break free and obstruct other parts of your body, which includes your lungs.
Diabetes Risk
When you are not moving, your body is not using as much blood sugar in other words, glucose and that is not a good thing. People who had spent hours in watching TV increased their risk of developing diabetes by 3.4%. Now the term ‘Netflix and chill’ doesn’t sound as much fun as it was before, does it?
That is why physical workout is one of the best natural treatments for diabetes. But lack of exercise is one of the leading causes for developing type 2 diabetes.
Fuzzy Thinking
Ironically, just sitting down to work can actually lead to trouble focusing. When you are not moving, there is less blood being pumped throughout your body, including our brains. Also, this slows down our cognitive functions and it leads to brain fog.
Loss of Muscle and Bone Strength
You need your body to maintain lean muscle tissue so you can perform your daily tasks without taxing or hurting your body. With a sedentary lifestyle, all these will change. Ordinary events, such as grocery shopping or picking things up, may become so much more difficult. It especially becomes important in older adults, who are already losing their bone strength and muscle mass.
Are you standing yet? Here, the good news is that you can prevent these effects of a sedentary lifestyle. Even though if you do work in an office environment, none of them include exercising more. So, exercise every day and follow a healthy lifestyle!
