“Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.”
These are the findings of Dr James Levine, co-director of the joint Mayo Clinic Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative, who has been studying the adverse effects of our increasingly desk-bound, inactive lifestyle.
Levine, who is also the inventor of the innovative treadmill desk, coined the phrase “sitting is the new smoking”. But he is not the only one who believes there is a link between a sedentary lifestyle and disease.
Researchers have found evidence that prolonged sitting increases the risk of serious illnesses, such as colon and breast cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and even depression.
Obesity levels are also soaring worldwide. Using the World Health Organisation’s definition of obesity, South Africa ranks 44th in a list of 192 countries, with 26.8% of adults considered obese. When people who are considered overweight are included, this figure rises to 53.9%.
Sitting, like smoking, is clearly bad for our health and the only way to minimise the risk is to spend less time on our backsides each day.
So what do Flowstars think of this state of affairs?
“Imagine if you smoke and sit! Doomed, I am doomed.” – Caroline Smith, head of PR
“For me, sitting is an even bigger problem, because I sit on a bus for an extra four hours a day travelling to and from work. One would assume that manual labour is more detrimental to one’s health, but apparently not!” – Selinah Seipei, content producer
“Hmm. Thank goodness I get up from my desk every now and then to go and have a smoke.” – Willem Steenkamp, senior writer and editor
“I must agree that it’s unhealthy to sit too much. It’s important to take a walk and to do desk exercises. I have a window behind me, so I stand up and watch the cars go by while having a good stretch.” – Nomfundo Lentsoane, digital strategist
“I try to take a walk around in the car park to get some fresh air and to rest my eyes from my computer screen. Walking up and down the stairs is also good to get the circulation going. Another thing is to be aware of correct posture, with computer screen at eye level and back straight.” – Ella Marren, project manager
What can you do?
In an office context, think along the lines of making the effort to get up from your desk to walk upstairs rather than phoning a colleague; taking a five-minute break to walk around the building to get your circulation going; walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water; planning an after-work jog with colleagues; or simply standing up and stretching your arms and legs – all of which is beneficial to a degree.
If we are to take this warning seriously, we need to think of too much sitting in the context of the long-term problems associated with physical inactivity. “High levels of moderate physical activity” (about 60 to 75 minutes a day) “seem to eliminate the increased risk of death associated with high sitting time”, according to a study published last year in the esteemed The Lancet medical journal.
The bottom line? Move as often as possible and huff and puff less. No pun intended.
