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The body’s ability to effectively respond to sugar intake is profoundly affected by prolonged sitting, leading to insulin resistance and diabetes.
Long-term increased blood sugar levels give rise to cardiovascular disease, stroke, kidney failure, nerve damage, blindness and limb amputations.
Sitting at a desk, with hunched shoulders and a rounded spine, leads to a substantial reduction in lung capacity, which is further exacerbated by a lack of diaphragmatic movement due to abdominal compression between the upper body and the flexed hip.
Over time, breathing becomes chronically impaired, leading to decreased energy and negative effects on the brain, including impaired focus and reduced memory and surprisingly an increased risk for stroke.
The gluteal muscles are an essential component for human locomotion and suffer enormous damage from sitting.
The chonic lack of extension in the hip muscles lead to tightness and a reduced range of motion, while weakened glute muscles decrease a person’s stability.
Sitting causes food to compress in the intestines, which impairs digestion and can lead to long-term low level inflammation in and around the intestine with negative effects on the healthy gut flora (microbiome).
This has been associated with diseases affecting the bowels, and can also contribute to allergies, asthma, metabolic syndrome, heart disease and cancer.
Sitting more than 8 hours daily increases the risk for lung cancer by 54%, uterine cancer by 66% and colon cancer by 30%.
This is in part due to hormonal changes (IGF-1), excessive insulin secretion, a state of constant inflammation and decreased production of antioxidant enzymes.
The risk of dying from cancer is increased by 82% for people who sit more than 11 hours per day.
Exercise time and sedentary time are two entirely different entities. They are not as interconnected as we used to believe.
Contrary to the common opinion that too much sitting can be compensated by a plus of training, this is not possible. Sitting damages the body regardless of athletic activity and physical activity cannot correct for sitting time.
Sitting too long influences the dopamine and leptin hormones, which play an important role in the regulation of hunger and satiety. Weight gain as a result of inactivity can start a vicious cycle, in which it becomes harder and harder for people to lose weight.
Being overweight increases the risk of a number of serious conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and heart attack, stroke, cancer, kidney disease and liver disease; it can also result in sleep disturbances and cause a range of musculoskeletal problems.
