Could A Standing Desk Add Years To Your Life?
- Tokyo Chiropractor Dr Ariel Thorpe
- Jun 2
- 2 min read
Sitting Is The New Smoking...But Why?
"Why do my legs feel heavy or bloated after a long-haul flight or sitting too long?" It is annoying to put your shoes back on, but it can also be deadly. Deep vein thrombosis is a risk but there is also a longer-term problem that can kill you more slowly.
On a flight, blood can pool in the legs and this build-up of fluid in the bottom half of your body means there is less blood moving through the upper half, particularly to the brain. Since the brain is a vital organ keeping you alive and functioning, if the body senses low levels of nutrients going to the brain in the blood, it will put more glucose (sugar) into the bloodstream to get to the brain. Sounds smart on the body's part, right?
Unfortunately, this has a whole body effect such that glucose is pumped everywhere in the body, not just to the brain. If you've been sitting too long, with all of the blood pooling in the legs, extra blood sugar unnecessarily ends up there, too.
How Sitting Is Making You Fat
While sugar helps fuel the brain, your body will sense that there is an abundance of sugar already in the bloodstream and it slows down fat burning. The body figures: why burn fat to create more energy if there's already energy in the form of sugar running free via the blood? This is your body being efficient. Unfortunately, this causes changes to your metabolism and it won't adapt as quickly to energy changes in the body.
This is the start of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. In this case, these four chronic diseases are 100% preventable and based entirely on the decision to sit for hours without moving around.
The Health Risks of Sitting All Day
Chronic sitting leads to:
2x the risk of diabetes
90% greater risk of cardiovascular disease
49% greater risk of death
How To Easily Reduce The Risk of Death From Sitting
Make a healthy lifestyle your priority:
Move at regular intervals daily. Use an alarm to stand and move around the room periodically (every 20 minutes is ideal but do what you can)
Break up screen time (scrolling, Netflix, or staring on your computer while working) with brief bodyweight exercises like push ups, planks, and squats
Keep segmental movement in your joints with regular chiropractic adjustments
References:
Vernikos, J. Sitting Kills, Moving Heals. Quill Driver Books, 2011.
Comentários