“For People who sit most of the day, their risk heart attack
is about the same as smoking” – Martha Grogan, Cardiologist, Mayo Clinic.
Van Der Ploeg, Senior Research Fellow at the University of
Sydney, and her colleagues found that sitting for 11 or more hours per day
increase risk of death by 40%, regardless of other activity levels.
Scientist at the University of Missouri had found that the
act of sitting seems to shut off the circulation of a fat-absorbing enzyme
called lipase, this will make you gain weight or worst, obese.
A study published by the American journal of Epidemiology
showed that sitting for at least 6 hours a day can make someone at least 18%
more likely to die of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity than those who are
sitting less than 3 hours a day.
Global studies show, on average, we sit 7.7 hours a day, and
some results estimated people sit up to 15 hours a day.
What happens to our
body right after sitting?
Right after we sit down, the electrical activity in our
muscles slow down the calorie burning rate to 1 calorie per minute. Sitting in
a full 24-hour period, can cause 40% reduction in glucose uptake, which can
cause type-2 diabetes in the future.
After of Two weeks of
sitting for more than 6 hours a day
Your body will begin to increase plasma triglycerides (fatty
molecules), LDL cholesterol (a.k.a. bad cholesterol ), and insulin resistance. One
of the things that happen is that the body muscles aren’t taking in fat and
your blood sugar level will goes up, putting you at risk of weight gain. Your
maximum oxygen consumption will also drop, thus you will have a much harder
time walking and climbing stairs.
After of One year of
sitting for more than 6 hours a day
You will most likely have high cholesterol as well as have
gained weight. Studies show that sitting can also contribute to loss of bone
mass and can lead to bone related diseases.
After 10-20 years of
sitting for more than 6 hours a day
You will have 64 percent more chance of dying of heart
diseases and 30 percent more chance of prostate cancer or breast cancer.
If you want to compute how much time you are spending on sitting, you can try this calculator:
