Why “Sitting Disease” Is the New Smoking, plus Solutions

At least four hours a day of sitting is dangerous to health, increasing mortality, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, blood clot risks and more.

Do YOU have the “sitting disease”?

Who would have ever thought that spending lots of time every day in a nice comfy chair could be so threatening to one’s health?

But the research can’t be ignored, and it’s mounting more and more.

You may be wondering, Where was all this research 10 years ago?

Well, just because it took a long time for medical researchers to catch on to the sitting disease, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Just like with smoking. For years, attention to the harm of smoking was well under the radar, but gradually over time, as study after study proved that smoking is dangerous to health, people became increasingly aware of smoking’s harm to the body.

Similarly, information on the dangers of prolonged sitting has really picked up steam, and there are no studies that contradict the existence of sitting disease.

Our ancient ancestors, and modern-day hunter-gatherers, do not spend hours and hours sitting like people in industrialized societies do.

Prolonged sitting goes against the nature of our body.

The scary thing about all this is that even strenuous exercise sessions, done DAILY, will NOT offset the negative health effects of sitting for hours every day!

So if you’re hitting the gym like a grizzly bear several times a week, bench pressing and deadlifting hundreds of pounds, dripping sweat from your Tabata workouts and heavy-bag routines…guess what:

This is why it’s so very important to avoid sitting for longer than one hour at a time.

In fact, it would be very wise to get up every 30 to 45 minutes if you know you’ll be sitting for a very long time doing computer work at home or on the job.

“If a person goes on an eight hour flight, they will usually be very aware of the DVT risk,” says Dr. David Beatty, MD, a retired general practitioner with 30+ years of experience and an instructor of general medicine for 20 years.

A DVT is a deep vein thrombosis: a dangeorus blood clot.

“They’ll do leg exercises, move the calf muscles, get up for a walk to stretch the legs,” continues Dr. Beatty, referring to people in airplanes.

“Do they do any of this when they sit behind a desk for the working day?”

The answer is no, strangely enough — no for many of them.

But excess sitting on land — at home or in the office — increases the risk for DVT.

Excessive sitting, regardless of your fitness habits, is an independent risk factor for various conditions, including increased risk of death from any cause.

Below are links to current information on the sitting disease.

THE RESEARCH 

WHY does excessive sitting increase death by any cause?

Prolonged sitting raises death risk in next three years.

Excess sitting on the job is linked to cancer, heart disease.

Sitting Disease Solutions

– Get a treadmill desk and do as much computer use as possible on it.

– Stand or pace while watching TV, even if it’s just during commercials.

– Stand while on the phone.

– If you don’t have a treadmill desk for computer work, set a timer that goes off every 30 to 45 minutes, then get up and do something, anything (chores, calve raises, pushups, marching in place, watering the houseplants, playing with the dog, etc.)

– Stand while eating.

Dr. Beatty has worked in primary medicine, surgery, accident and emergency, OBGYN, pediatrics and chronic disease management. He is the Doctor of Medicine for Strong Home Gym.

Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.