Is sitting the new smoking?
If you are sitting, then I would like to request you to get up from your couch and take a stroll while reading the blog. I am sure that you probably never think of sitting when it comes to the list of dangers in your life. Correct?
But, time has come that you start thinking about it on a very serious note.
It is not an epiphany, you have seen and heard of the fact that smoking is injurious to health as it appears on your screens every time whenever smoking is showcased in the form of cigarettes or cigars or bidis. The degree of injury is so deep within the smoking class that they are pretty consistent in their acts of guiltfree smoking. I know it is quite sarcastic. For them, it is merely a sentence not a statutory warning. In spite of knowing well that the activity in which they are going to get indulged is harmful and debilitating but who cares! Are they even living consciously?
Extended siting is injurious to health. The sentence seems familiar. Correct?
It is high time that you start cautioning yourselves and your loved ones that sitting is as poisonous as smoking. Sitting for a longer duration is a slow killing machine. Long sitters are defined as people who has the propensity to sit for a long time without any form of physical activity. Any extended sitting- be it on a car seat for a long drive, on a couch watching television, working in front of a screen, watching a movie in a theatre- can be damaging. Research has documented that sitting for a long duration is linked to cardiac issues,cancer, diabetes, and ill mental health. Even adults without dementia who are prolonged sitters had faster thinning of the medial temporal lobe (an area of the brain used for making memories). An analysis of 13 studies found that those who sat for > 8 hours a day with no physical acitivity had a risk of dying similar to that posed by obesity and smoking (source- JAMA Cardiology; Journal of the American College of Cardiology).
As Yuval Noah Harari rightly pointed out in his book Homo Deus, sugar is now more dangerous than gunpowder, prolonged sitting is now in the queue and shaking hands with sugar. The only way to combat the harm is to increase our mobility and circulation.
If you are at home or working from home, I would like to share few of my tested tips and tricks to avoid extended sitting behaviour-
- Carry an empty water bottle with you when getting yourself on the couch so that you are forced to leave the couch to fill the water, when thirsty.
- Take a break from sitting every 30 mins and invest on standing activities like washing few utensils, folding laundry, doing some ironing, watering the plants, etc. In short, leave some household chores incomplete so that they will pull you out of the couch.
- Walk while talking on the phone or watching television.
- If you work at a desk, try a standing desk — or improvise with a high table.
- When are you going to make an optimum use of your most favourite screen? Give some break to social media and set alarms at an interval of 30 minutes that will remind you to get up from your seat.
- If you are in the office, you can leave your chair to breathe for some time while you check mails and again take a seat. Take a break to stand up and stretch. If this is uncomfortable, walk to the restroom. At least, you will have the chance to walk a bit, if not for long. It might sound rude but this is the harsh and unaccepted reality.
Friends, to be honest, I penned this blog, not while sitting on a couch consistently but standing intermittently as I believe in practising what I preach. Stop being lazy or you will be engulfed by the tentacles of chronic illness gradually. Then there will be no time left for you to react.
Please please STOP GIVING EXCUSES, wake up, be conscious of your beautiful body and give it the care and affection it deserves. Always remember, movement is essential, be it leisurely or of high impact.
That’s all folks. Take care.
