Inactivity

Even if you’ve taken my advice and started exercising regularly, you are still succeptible to the health risks of TOO MUCH SITTING.

Even for people who are active, sitting for long periods of time is a risk factor for conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney problems.

When you sit for long periods of time your muscles don’t contract as much as they should, thereby decreasing blood flow throughout your body and thus reducing the efficiency of biological processes.

Regularly standing up from a seated position has been found out to be more effective than walking.

This, after all, is what our hunter-gatherer ancestors did: Natural, low-intensity, non-exercise movements that used the gravity vector throughout the day. (Recall my warming up on the rebounder).

In order to counteract the cardiovascular risks associated with prolonged sitting, you should interrupt your sitting about 35 times per day.

Suggestion as to how you can do this: Set your smart phone’s alarm for 15 minutes and stand up, jump up and down 3-4 times every time it rings.

ADDENDUM TO THE ARTICLE ON INACTIVITY

I’ve given you a brief explanation as to why sitting for prolonged periods is detrimental to your health. Now some concrete facts and figures.

Sitting can be deadly, especially if you overdo it. We sit while we eat, work and play, why is it so bad?

Even if you work out regularly, walk 10,000 steps a day, don’t smoke, don’t overdue alcohol and are not overweight, as soon as you sit down your calorie burning capacity goes down to 1 calorie per minute. This is 1/3 of what you burn with normal activity.

Electrical activity in your leg muscles shuts off and the production of enzymes that breakdown fat is reduced by 90 %.

Two hours of sitting results in your “good cholesterol” (HDL) dropping by 20 %.

After 24 hours of sitting your risk of getting diabetes increases by 25 %.

Sitting also increases your probability of becoming obese, getting cancer, heart disease and dying prematurely.

So set your smart phone’s alarm to go off every 15 minutes and do what I do in the above video.