Sitting is the New Smoking | Safety Australia Group

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Every hour of sitting cuts 22 minutes from our life span

Sitting is the new smoking and your chair is out to harm your health. Research reveals that every hour of sitting cuts approximately 22 minutes from our life span, and alarmingly we spend as much as 80% of our working day seated. This statistic also correlates with the percentage of Australians that also suffer from back pain, the most common musculoskeletal injury which is highly preventable.

Sitting in front of your computer screen all day is putting the ‘sit’ into obesity, as we are moving less and eating more. Not only are these prolonged periods of inactivity increasing our risk of obesity, but they are also linked with heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, muscular and back issues, deep vein thrombosis, brittle bones, depression, and stroke.

The World Health Organisation identifies physical inactivity as the fourth biggest killer in Australia, ahead of obesity. Sitting for too long slows down the body’s metabolism, and slows down the breakdown of fat. On the other hand, we have our blood glucose levels rising, blood pressing increasing all which are making sitting deadly!

The World Health Organisation recommends an adult should do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, or 30 minutes on at least five days. That is enough to gain the key benefits of regular exercise. However, it won’t protect you from the dangers of an inactive lifestyle if you spend too much time sitting.

Little amounts of regular activity add up and even just standing and moving around, throughout the day is enough to bring the increased levels back down. Regular move breaks are a great way to avoid sitting for too long. Walk and talk meetings are also another option to get up and moving. Before you send an email maybe there are options to get up and interact with your colleagues through conversation rather than emails. Whatever works, lets get up and get moving more.

Source: Dr Lennert Veerman, from the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, and colleagues reported their findings in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. These findings were based on data from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]