Sitting Down Sucks!

Throughout history humans have evolved to use the environment around them to make their lives easier. They invented tools for hunting and constructing shelters, they developed language to replace other more ineffective forms of communication, and they constantly discovered new ways to increase their opportunities to rest comfortably. Sitting down for a short rest was a remarkably effective practice in the hunter-gatherer era, but in modern times prolonged sitting has become detrimental for people’s health. We sit down in our cars to get to work, where we sit at our desk for hours on end, just to go home to sit down for dinner and watch a bit of television before we go to bed. Somewhat unsurprisingly, “65–75% of office workers’ hours are spent sitting” (Carter et al.), unaware of the creeping danger that simply sitting down for long durations of time presents to our bodies.

You might say to yourself, “I run everyday after work because I sit down all day while I’m at work”. This is all well and good, and I would encourage this type of behavior, but unfortunately the sedentary behavior is not cancelled out by a single bout of exercise. In fact, “Prolonged sedentary time was independently associated with deleterious health outcomes regardless of physical activity” (Biswas et al.). In layman’s terms this means that no matter how much you exercise, bad things happen to your body when you are sedentary for extended periods of time. “Sedentary behaviors such as sitting are associated with type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality” (Peddie et al.). On top of the negative physical outcomes, sitting down for long periods of time also effects your brain. According to a study by Carter et al. “Greater SB (sedentary behavior) is also linked to impaired brain structure and function, which may contribute to cognitive decline and the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.”

                So, we know that sitting down for extended periods of time is bad for us. But how can we reduce the effects that sitting down has on our brains and bodies?

                Get up. Take a quick walk. That’s it. It seems too simple to be true, but that is the best way to help offset the poor health effects of sitting down. The most common resistance I encounter when I tell people to simply take walking breaks at work is that several walking breaks will add up to a significant amount of time, which decreases their productivity. This is false. Walking breaks are a great opportunity to regroup and refocus on your task. And as mentioned earlier, prolonged sitting negatively effects cognitive function. Walking breaks are a double whammy for increasing productivity at work.

                In this short blog I’ve given several benefits to simply getting up every half hour or so and taking a 3–5-minute walk, but the benefits don’t stop there. A little bit of research will show that breaking up long bouts of sitting with a short walk will help ward off several deleterious health outcomes. So set a timer. When it goes off…take a walk! Your brain and body will thank you!