If you work in an office or from homeYou probably know all too well how it feels to sit for hours on end with no time for breaks in between. If this is your daily experience, it is likely that you will experience pain and stiffness throughout the day. Additionally, research suggests that too much sedentary time could also contribute to additional health complications.
A report published by JAMA Cardiology in June 2022 revealed how sitting too long affected people in 21 different countries. While this study is one of the largest published on the subject, it’s not the first to reveal the hard truth about what a sedentary lifestyle can do for your health. This and other studies on this topic published over the past decade have found that sitting for long periods of time every day without breaks can rapidly age your body in a number of ways.
Read on to learn more about how this daily habit is aging you fast, and for more tips for healthy aging, check out 8 eating habits to slow brain aging.
How long-term sitting can accelerate aging and could have fatal consequences
Office jobs have always posed a threat to finding movement throughout the day. but with him work life from home Increasingly common in recent years with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, even more people find themselves sitting at their desks or on their couches for hours on end. This, unfortunately, may be wreaking havoc on the health of multiple populations.
the JAMA Cardiology The study found that all of the populations they studied had results showing that spending more time sitting equated to an increased risk of health complications. For an article in scientific alert exposing about the JAMA Cardiology study, sitting for six to eight hours a day “increases the relative risk of heart disease and premature death by about [12–13%], compared to people who sit less than four hours a day. Ramp that time up to eight hours or more, and the relative risk staggers to a staggering 20.[%].”
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Many other investigations have found similar conclusions regarding the adverse effects of sitting for long periods of time during the day. A report published in 2019 in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that longer periods of daily sitting were associated with an increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Additionally, another 2017 study from The journal of lifestyle medicine The evaluation of the habits of office workers concluded that long periods of time sitting per day, also between six and eight hours, were associated with symptoms of hypertension and musculoskeletal disorders in the body.
The Mayo Clinic also warns people about the dangers of sitting for hours on end without taking breaks to move, claiming that making this a routine habit can be linked to health complications such as high blood pressure, obesity, high blood sugar, and also excess visceral fat, the type of fat that lives around the organs near the abdomen. In fact, after reviewing 13 studies looking at time spent sitting versus amount of daily activity, Mayo Clinic researchers concluded that “those who sat for more than eight hours a day without physical activity were at increased risk of dying.” similar to that posed by obesity and smoking”.
Although it’s an alarming statistic, fortunately, changing your habitual sedentary lifestyle may be easier than you think.
Incorporate more daily movement into your lifestyle
These findings may seem grim, but there is hope in combating the effects of prolonged sitting. Although many of us still need to sit for several hours a day to get our work done, research shows that even adding just an hour of movement a day can have tremendously positive effects. For example, a 2016 study of the University of Cambridge found that 60 to 75 minutes of moderate exercise a day, which includes a walk briskly or riding a bike, can possibly eliminate the adverse effects of aging, as well as the increased risk of premature death associated with sitting for too long.
While this may not be possible every day due to busy schedules or other common factors, it’s promising to know that something as simple and low-impact as a walk can make a difference in improving your health, in addition to participating in other forms of exercise. So if you work in an office or work from home, try taking a morning or evening walk after dinner. Also, when given the option of taking the stairs or taking an elevator, opt for more steps to counteract the effects of the inevitable extended periods of time in your seat. Your body will thank you!
samantha bosch
Samantha was born and raised in Orlando, Florida and now works as a writer in Brooklyn, NY. Read more about Samantha
