Sitting is the new Smoking.

Sitting is the new Smoking.

Sitting is more dangerous than smoking. It kills more people than HIV, and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death," says James Levine, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, in an interview with the LA Times. When you think of something that could threaten your life, you probably don't think about your chair at work. But according to many researchers, it’s one of the biggest potential threats to your health". "The chair is out to kill us." We spend more than half of our waking hours sitting down, either watching TV, driving, or sitting at a desk at work or at home Excessive sitting is found to be associated with increased chance of obesity, back, neck, & sciatica pain, higher risk of cardiovascular disease, increased rates of type 2 diabetes and also found to shorten life expectancy.

But the irony is that, cure for too much sitting isn’t more exercise. Exercise is good, of course, but the average person could never do enough to counteract the effect of hours and hours of chair time.”The research shows that though exercise is good for you, it doesn’t negate the damage done by extended periods of sitting.

The body is a perpetual motion machine. According to Dr. Joan Vernikos, author of the “Sitting Kills, Moving Heals” we weren't designed to sit. Metabolism slows down 90 percent after 30 minutes of sitting. The enzymes that move the bad fat from your arteries to your muscles, where it can get burned off, slow down. The muscles in your lower body are turned off. And after two hours, good cholesterol drops 20 percent. Just getting up for five minutes is going to get things going again. One can burn on average of 50 calories more per hour by standing. If you stand for 3 hours per day, five days per week, it adds up to 750 calories burned. In a year that adds up to 30,000 calories, which is almost 9 pounds. This is the equivalent of around 10 marathons per year and why Dr. Levine is a huge proponent of standing desks. Research shows that you can reduce your chances of cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and back pain, all with one simple lifestyle change: reduce the time you spend sitting.

Dr. Sonal Agrawal
Assistant Professor