Image from Fitness.mercola.com
Our bodies were designed to move, to hunt and gather food. Now, we are chained to our sedentary lifestyle, desk jobs and television. Many health practitioners are now wondering, “Is Sitting the New Smoking?”
From an article from the LA Times in May 25, 2013,
“… the journal Diabetologia in November 2012 analyzed the results of 18 studies with a total of nearly 800,000 participants. When comparing people who spent the most time sitting with those who spent the least time, researchers found increases in the risks of diabetes (112%), cardiovascular events (147%), death from cardiovascular causes (90%) and death from all causes (49%).
“Sitting is the new smoking,” says Anup Kanodia, a physician and researcher at the Center for Personalized Health Care at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. As evidence, he cites an Australian study published in October 2012 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that compared the two pastimes. Every hour of TV that people watch, presumably while sitting, cuts about 22 minutes from their life span, the study’s authors calculated. By contrast, it’s estimated that smokers shorten their lives by about 11 minutes per cigarette.”
But what can YOU do to fight this growing epidemic? The easiest way to fight this is to MOVE! Take more steps, whether it is a treadmill desk or taking a few laps around the office every 15 minutes. The more active you are in your day to day can add years to your life.