The Risks of Sitting Around

This is a nice article from the NY Times on the effects of sitting on health.

I gave up sitting at my desk over a year ago, and now I stand all day. There are many more reasons why sitting is not recommended than this article goes into.

• For one, the amount of pressure on the discs of the low back while sitting is almost three times that of standing.
• Another one is that sitting immobilizes the hips leading to a breakdown of the bio-mechanics of the pelvis and low back.
• In the Blue Zone study, people who lived into their hundreds were not sedentary. Constant movement was a part of their life.
• This concept of standing while you work has spawned ideas like the “treadmill desk” design.

What we’ve learned from the Blue Zone study and other research data, is that we as humans must be constantly moving throughout the day and avoiding long periods of sitting. Study after study re-affirms this.

If we sit for an hour, we should exercise for an hour. If we sit for 3 hours, we should exercise for 3 hours. Of course this starts to become impossible for many people very quickly, so how do we get around this?

Stand, instead of sit. More devices are being developed to help people accomplish this goal. The treadmill desk above is one such device. Others are being developed.

Get creative. Surprise yourself. Movement is life.