A sedentary lifestyle is very dangerous for your health. Less sitting and laying down throughout the day is better for you and leads to a healthier mind and body. Even standing and moving around promote a lower chance of early death.
There are so many health consequences of being too sedentary throughout your day. Humans are built to stand upright. Many of the body’s functions operate more effectively this way, from the heart and cardiovascular system to the bowels.
Standing and moving also impact your energy levels and endurance and even improves your bone health. You can see how a sedentary lifestyle affects your body in different ways below.
Legs and Glutes
A sedentary lifestyle leads to your large leg and gluteal muscles weakening and wasting away. These muscles are necessary for walking and stabilizing yourself while standing.
You are more likely to injure yourself by falling or strains during exercise if these muscles are weak. You can also get a sore bum and knees if you sit for too long.
Being sedentary for long periods of time can also result in poor blood flow in your legs, which can lead to vascular problems.
Hips and Back
Your hips and back cannot support you as well when you frequently sit for long periods during the day. Being sedentary causes the hip flexor muscles to shorten, which creates problems with the hip joints.
It also leads to a ton of back problems, especially if you sit with a poor posture, such as slouching, or not making use of a comfortable desk and seat. Being sedentary can cause poor spine health, including disc compression, premature disc degeneration, and pain.
We recently wrote an article uncovering the importance of ergonomics in corporate health, so do make sure to check it out for further information on how you can preserve and improve your health when working an office job.
Neck and Shoulders
If you lead a sedentary lifestyle, you will likely experience a lot of pain and stiffness in your neck and shoulders. It also leads to a weaker neck overall, which can cause several problems later on.
This all is exacerbated if you sit with poor posture, including promoting a hunched spine. Disc degeneration can also happen in your upper spine, where your neck is.
Being largely sedentary can also lead to headaches and vision problems, especially if you are sedentary due to a desk job with a computer.
Weight
When your muscles move, it helps your body to properly digest food, especially any fats and sugars you ingest. Sitting a lot leads to digestion that is not efficient, which causes your body to retain a lot of fats and sugars as fat cells.
Unfortunately, this can even happen if you exercise because not all exercise will negate the effects of a sedentary lifestyle. Being sedentary puts you at risk for digestive health problems, such as metabolic syndrome.
It takes around 60 to 75 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each day to combat the negative effects of excessive sitting. A sedentary lifestyle also greatly increases your risk for obesity.
Diabetes
Just 5 days spent lying in bed can raise insulin resistance within your body. This causes blood sugars to spike above what is healthy.
While you may not be lying in bed for 5 days straight, a sedentary lifestyle does put you at a 112% higher risk for diabetes than if you were not sedentary.
Varicose Veins and Deep Vein Thrombosis
Sitting for long periods can cause varicose veins and their smaller counterpart, spider veins. This is due to the fact that when you sit for too long, your blood can pool in your legs.
Varicose veins are not necessarily dangerous, but they can lead to blood clots. This leads us to deep vein thrombosis, which is caused when a blood clot develops in the vein in your leg.
This can be a serious problem because if it breaks apart, it can travel throughout your bloodstream, causing major issues. If the clot reaches your lungs, it can result in a pulmonary embolism, and if it reaches your brain, you could have a stroke.
Heart Disease
There is a strong link between a sedentary lifestyle and heart disease. There is around a 64% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease if you are sedentary throughout the day.
The risk gets even higher when you consider heart attacks and strokes, with a 147% higher chance when you are mainly sedentary throughout the day.
What Can You Do to Avoid These Health Complications?
If you live a sedentary lifestyle and are worried about your health, remember that you can always turn it around by making some changes throughout your day.
You need to add more activity to your day to become less sedentary and more active. You can walk, ride a bike, use the stairs, take movement breaks, stretch away from your desk, and just get up and out of your chair for a bit.
Walk to your colleague instead of emailing them if you can. Take your lunch break away from your desk. Walk during short breaks at work.
You can also start doing fun physical activities, including yoga, swimming, and martial arts. Try to watch TV less and walk when you are on the phone or even when reading.
Conclusion
Leading a sedentary lifestyle is detrimental to your health in both the short and long term. The human body was not meant to sit all day, and problems arise when one does.
The good news is that you can reverse these negative effects by adding more activity to your day. It does not necessarily have to be anything big at first. Just start with small things that will make a huge impact.
Regardless of how you choose to add activity to your day, you should start doing it immediately. The negative health consequences of a sedentary lifestyle are no joke.
