But all that resting on your hindquarters has a downside. Research has tied long periods of sitting with some major health problems, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other destroyers of good health. So far experts are unsure of just how sitting can produce such negative results; they just know that it does. The only suggestion that seems to counteract the effects is to get up and get moving.
If you smoke or already have high blood pressure, you’re sending yourself to an early grave, if research is accurate. If you spend more than four hours a day in front of your computer or television, you have a 50 percent increased risk of death from any cause, and a 125 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Research has pinpointed these as the top five dangers of staying sedentary:
1) Heart disease – Your muscles atrophy from long periods of sitting, causing them to burn less fat and reduce blood flow, raising the risk of clogging the heart. People who sit for long periods of time without a counterbalance of activity are twice as likely to have heart disease as their active cousins.
2) Pancreas in overdrive – The pancreas is the body’s insulin producer, a hormone that carries glucose to cells for energy fuel. Cells in muscles that aren’t working don’t respond to insulin produced by the pancreas, so that organ keeps pumping out more and more, creating a situation ripe for developing diabetes and other problems.
3) Colon cancer – Sitting has been linked to greater risks for endometrial, colon and breast cancers. The reason is not clear to researchers, but a sedentary lifestyle surely contributes. Regular movement can create antioxidants that kill free radicals, the roving cells that are believed to be a prime cancer-causer.