Sitting can be bad for your health
By: Katrina Irwin
Updated: January 17, 2013
Dr. Tom Campbell from Highland Family Medicine joined Katrina Irwin on News 8 at Sunrise Thursday.
He warns the chair is your enemy! Recent research has demonstrated that sitting is bad for your health.
Dr. Campbell says if you spend most of your day sitting (whether at work, in your car or watching TV), you are at significantly increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers, regardless of whether you get regular exercise. Prolonged sitting is a significant risk factor for these disease and can offset many of the benefits of regular exercise.
Why?
Sitting is passive: 80% of jobs are sedentary during which we burn very little calories, less than chewing gum or fidgeting. People who spend less time in their chairs at work have improved metabolic profiles and health.
Sitting is physiologically bad for you: Inactivity leads to reduction in key enzymes that metabolize fats (lipoprotein lipase) that lead to more fat deposition, higher cholesterol and blood sugar levels and larger waists.
All independent of how much exercise one does.
What to do:
limit your TV watching (major source of sitting among Americans ; couch potatos)
be active while watching TV (exercise in front of the TV)
Take frequent breaks from any sitting job, stand up and walk as much as possible.
Work at the computer while standing up (construct or buy standup desks (Ergo Desktop)
Walk while you work at your desk with a treadmill desk (TrekDesk)
Conduct your meetings standing up
Walk or ride your bike to work
Bottom line, Dr. Campbell says beware of your chair! It is bad for your health
