Your Chair is Trying to Kill You
The World Health Organization (WHO) lists inactivity as the fourth biggest killer of adults. In recent years researchers have taken a serious look at the effects of sitting and found it profoundly impacts health and longevity negatively. 1
An analysis of 18 studies, including a total of nearly 800,000 people, found that those who sat for the longest periods of time were twice as likely to have diabetes or heart disease compared to those who sat the least.
Lead researcher, Thomas Yates, MD said, “Even for people who are otherwise active, sitting for long stretches seems to be an independent risk factor for conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease.”2
It is important to note that this is true even in people who workout regularly. An hour at the gym, even most days of the week, does not counteract the effects of prolonged sitting.
The Effects
It has been said that sitting is the new smoking, but why? What is so bad about sitting?
Organ Damage
Heart disease
When sitting muscles burn less fat and blood flows more sluggishly, allowing fatty acids to clog the heart more easily. Sitting for extended periods is linked to high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. People who are the most sedentary are more than TWICE as likely to have cardiovascular disease than those who sit the least.
Diabetes
Insulin, the hormone that carries glucose to cells for energy, is produced in the pancreas. When we are idle our cells are also idle. Idle cells do not readily respond to insulin and the pancreas produces more and more, which can lead to diabetes. A 2011 study found a decline in insulin response after just one day of excess sitting.
Foggy brain
When we sit our circulation declines. When less blood and oxygen are circulating through the brain, brain function suffers. This leads not only to brain fog, but also lowers mood.
Looking at the graphic below we see someone sitting as one would position themselves after sitting for a bit. She is probably typing on a keyboard.
Looking at her upper spine we see compression in the cervical vertebrae, the vertebrae in the neck. The human head weighs about 12 pounds. For every inch we lean our head forward we more than double the pressure on our cervical spine. This woman is putting about 45 pounds of pressure on her neck.
Her shoulders are slumped forward overextending the muscles in her upper back. You cannot see it in this graphic, but these upper muscles are taking on a lot of pressure, while the mid back muscles have given up completely.
About those muscles, it isn’t just the back muscles suffering here. In this position the abdominals are totally out of commission.
Look at her hip flexor. Imagine what it should look like when she stands up. It should lengthen. When we sit it is short and tight. If we sit a lot this becomes chronic.
Now look at her glutes. Sitting requires nothing of the glutes, so they just give out.
So now we have short, tight hip flexors and mushy abs and glute that aren’t even capable of holding us upright in unison with back muscles that are alternately over-stressed and weak. This creates the perfect environment for a slipped disk! Sitting can be ten times as compressive to the spine as sitting.
You may notice the organs are also being put under pressure here. When sitting poorly our organs are also poorly positioned and cannot function optimally.
If you think lifting weights is dangerous, try sitting like this all day!
Counteracting the Effects of the Evil Chair
So what are you supposed to do? I just said all of these horrible things about sitting, but I also said that all of that work at the gym doesn’t really counteract the hours of sitting, so……??
First of all let me say that if you are going to the gym most days of the week, I’m super proud of you! I hope you are getting some weight work in. We have discussed that muscles basically die when we sit, so in that way you are counteracting the sitting, but only in that way. This doesn’t really do much to counteract the increased risk of early death associated with sitting. What does?
The answer is fairly simple. Sit less. Here are some strategies to accomplish this goal:
Park as far away as you can everywhere you go.
Take the stairs at every opportunity.
Wear a pedometer and challenge your coworkers to try and out step you.
Get up every 10 minutes. Set an alarm to remind you.
I hope you do all of these, but if I had to pick just one it would be the last one. Simply standing up every 10 minutes is actually more effective than taking a walk when we are talking about counteracting the ill effects of sitting. It isn’t even how long we stand, but how often that makes the difference.
According to Dr. Joan Vernikos, former director of NASA’s Life Sciences Division, your body needs to perpetually interact with gravity through motion to function properly. 3
PLEASE STAND UP!
Water, Water, Everywhere
One final note on spine health.
The disks in your spine, like you, are made up mostly of water. What do you think these disks look like when you are dehydrated? They flatten out. This leads to pain and disfunction. Please drink WATER! There really isn’t a substitute. Sodas and other sugary drinks are dehydrating and pull nutrients of out the bones.
1 Guradian July 1, 2013
2 WebMD October 15, 2012
3 Dr. Joan Vernikos, “Sitting Kills, Moving Heals”
