Health At Work: Sitting Too Long Causes Health Problems

Health At Work: Sitting Too Long Causes Health Problems

Welcome to this week’s edition of CardioLogix Magazine! In this edition we’re going to give you some very important and potentially life-saving information about how the simple act of getting up out of your chair can actually positively influence your health at work and your life-span.

By Sallie Baugh

It’s time to arise (pun intended) and pay attention to your health at work! Whether you work at home or in an office, if your job consists of sitting in front of a monitor all day, or even talking on the phone, you may have a health risk you are not even aware of.  Current research says sitting too long causes health problems.

Sitting too long causes health problems (whether at work or leisure time) EVEN if you do an hour or more of strenuous workout on a regular basis!

Now, I think we all know that “sedentary” folks have more risk of health problems than their more active counterparts.  Obesity, circulatory problems, bad posture, muscle weakness, metabolic syndrome and increased risk for chronic diseases like diabetes – these side effects of inactivity are nothing new.  However, this new flurry of research strongly suggests that if you are sitting too long (for hours on end) – even if you are “fit” from regular strength and aerobic training – your risk of mortality from all causes goes up.

A study was performed in Canada on 17,000 adults – the results showed a regular link between chair time and deaths from heart disease: The more time people spent seated, regardless of why, the more likely they would die of heart disease within 12 years — even if they were fit and trim.  Now, it is always possible that there are other factors involved here, other activity that went on while people were sitting too long. But as reported in USA Today, by Kim Painter in an article entitled “Your Health: Too much sitting puts the body on idle,”

“…researchers have other kinds of evidence. Hamilton has attached electrodes to people’s bodies and found that “when people are lounging or sitting, the muscles go silent, like a dead horse. … It’s like seeing a flatline for the brain.” Studies in rats show this muscular shutdown is quickly followed by a dramatic drop in an enzyme that Hamilton (Marc Hamilton, a researcher at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge) calls a “vacuum for fat in the bloodstream.” Hamilton believes artery-damaging fats get a new chance to build up during every period of prolonged sitting. Springing up to jog once a day is unlikely to undo the damage, he says.”

Another study published in The Journal of Physiology, has reported evidence that prolonged sitting suppresses lipase, the primary enzyme that breaks down fats during digestion.

Ms. Painter points out that we don’t know HOW much sitting continuously is too much.

“Scientists can’t say. Though study results are coming in quickly, “we’re a long way from having the volume of scientific evidence we would ideally have before issuing a set of guidelines,” says Russell Pate, an exercise physiologist at the University of South Carolina-Columbia.

Pate was part of a committee that wrote new physical activity guidelines for adults issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2009. The guidelines prescribe specific doses of moderate to vigorous activity (such as brisk walking and running) and muscle-strengthening exercises. They say nothing about limiting sitting, but future versions might, Pate says.”

For now, he and other researchers are comfortable with a broad message: Sit less and move more. Pate says: “Our bodies just weren’t designed to be this inactive.”

What does a person do that must spend 8+ hours a day at their work station and are sitting too long? Resign themselves to poor health and possibly a shorter life?

Not at all!

The Denver Post reported recently that there are more and more people that are trying to just STAND more!  The muscle contractions that are required to take place when a person stands provides one method to stimulate lipase production, and results in many health benefits. They are reorganizing their work space to create a desk configuration that allows them to stand part of the time.  It is also important not to stand TOO much of the time, though, as that can also causes health problems such as back and neck pain.

I have gotten into the habit of walking around when I am on the phone, and my pedometer helps me to realize how much benefit I get from that!  Very rarely does a day go by when I don’t get my 10,000 steps!

There are also special Trek Desks available where you can work on a computer or other “office” activity while walking slowly on most types of treadmills.  This can allow you to burn even more calories than simply standing, and can be easier on your back than standing still is.  Trek Desks can be a great antidote to sitting too long!  When used regularly, a trek desk/treadmill combo can help you to get your 10,000 steps a day, which is the amount recommended by the Surgeon General to provide major improvements in health (this basically equates to 5 miles of walking).  Some of the benefits of getting 10,000 steps per day are:

• Reduction in the risk of metabolic syndrome, which can lead to diabetes
• Protection from dementia
• Reduction in the risk of heart disease
• Improves cognitive function
• Lowers anxiety and stress levels
• Strengthens immune function

Regardless of what option you choose, remember to stop sitting too long – get up and move around at least once every hour or so.  Try to make items that you use regularly in your office less convenient to get to.  Maybe you can get up and walk across the space to put something in the trash.  (No basketball please!)  Place folders on the floor where you have to bend down to put them there, as well as to retrieve them.

This is an opportunity to be creative and find ways to add movement back into your work day, and eliminate one of the causes of health problems from your life!  Your health at work and at play will improve enormously as a result of simply NOT sitting too long.

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