Movement is blessed: “Sitting for long periods of time can be harmful to health”

 

Sitting Too Long

People sit for long periods daily, whether in the office, at home, or in the car.  However, sitting for too long can increase the risk of serious health problems like heart disease and type 2 diabetes due to damage to the arteries.

In 1953, epidemiologist Jeremy Morris discovered that London bus drivers were twice as likely to develop heart disease as bus conductors. Demographically (in terms of age, gender, and income) the two groups were similar, so why was there such a significant difference?

Morris's answer was that bus conductors were required to stand and regularly climb the steps of London's famous double-decker buses as they sold tickets to passengers while drivers sat for long periods. His landmark study laid the foundation for research on the links between physical activity and health.

Although conductors on London buses are now a thing of the past, Morris' findings are more important than ever.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a huge shift in working from home, which has increased our overall sitting time.

It's easy to sit behind a desk for hours without walking from the meeting room to the water cooler and the restroom.

However, office culture had changed our working lives so much by the 1980s that some researchers joked that our species, Homo sedans, had become 'sedentary humans'.

Sedentary is a form of prolonged sitting in which little energy is expended in a sitting or lying position. Sedentary behaviors include watching television, gaming, driving, and working at a desk. Sedentary behaviors are associated with a higher risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and premature death, and sitting time in particular was cited as a health risk factor.

In 2020, the World Health Organization recommended measures to reduce sedentary behavior. Since 2010, researchers have been trying to identify how sedentary behavior is different from lack of physical activity.

You can sit for long periods even if you get enough exercise every day, but for people who don't get enough exercise, the risks of sitting are increased.

Living alone increases the risk of heart disease

The underlying hypothesis is increased arterial dysfunction, particularly in the legs.

David Dunstan, a physiologist at Deakin University's Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition in Melbourne, Australia, has done extensive research on prolonged sitting and its potential effects. "Sitting decreases muscle activity," says Dunstan. If I am on the chair, then the chair is taking all the responsibility there.'

The combined effect of reduced muscle activity, reduced metabolic demand, and gravitational forces reduces peripheral blood flow to the leg muscles, allowing blood to pool in the calves.

The biomechanics of sitting with legs bent can also reduce blood flow in general. Less activity of the leg muscles reduces their metabolic demand. Metabolic demand dictates blood flow, so blood flow to the legs is also reduced.

In one study of 21 young healthy volunteers, the thickness of their calves increased by about a centimeter over two hours. It can also reduce blood flow.

Blood flow provides friction against the endothelial cells of the arterial walls known as arterial shear stress. The endothelium responds to this force and releases vasodilators such as adenosine prostacyclin and nitric oxide, which keep the arteries sufficiently dilated and maintain the ability to regulate the arteries, known as homeostasis.

On the other hand, decreased blood flow, however, reduces shear stress and the endothelium produces vasoconstrictors such as endothelin one, which causes blood vessels to constrict. This is why blood pressure increases to maintain blood flow.

One of the main risk factors for heart disease is high blood pressure.

"This arteriovenous dysfunction is one of the possible mechanisms, but the reality is that we haven't been able to pinpoint the exact mechanism," says Dunstan.

A study of 16 young, healthy men found that sitting for three hours increased leg blood flow, diastolic blood pressure, and leg thickness. Another study found that blood pressure increases with uninterrupted sitting.

Researchers generally agree that 120-180 minutes of uninterrupted sitting is probably the threshold that means you've spent too much time in a sitting position. In general, as time spent sitting increases, so does arterial damage.

Prolonged sitting after a high-fat meal is considered particularly harmful.

The muscular system is also likely to be affected. Prolonged sitting causes loss of muscle strength, loss of bone density, and an increase in adipose tissue and intestinal fat.

It is also believed that prolonged sitting can lead to physical discomfort, stress at work depression, and even stress ulcers.

Dunstan, who researched type 2 diabetes, also found that blood glucose and insulin spiked after eating or sitting for long periods.

We sit for so long and can we change this habit?

Benjamin Gardner, a psychologist at the University of Surrey, is researching why people sit for so long. "It is not that anyone is doing this on purpose," he says. As things become more efficient, we don't need to go here and there as much.

In 2018, Gardner and his colleagues found that there were unique social barriers to encouraging standing in meetings.

"We encouraged people to try standing in three different meetings and we interviewed them afterward to see how they got on and the results were interesting," says Gardner.

"In a formal meeting, it was felt that it was not appropriate to stand." Other initiatives include height-adjustable workstations, reclining seats, and treadmill workstations that increase blood flow.

Even just getting up now and then and taking a light walk or climbing a few stairs proved beneficial.

Technology can help do that too. In one study, devices called accelerometers provided 24-hour data on individual behaviors including sitting, standing, sleeping, and exercising.

As Dunstan notes, it most likely indicates the best times to sit and stand, with devices sending reminders whenever we sit for too long. However, there are some drawbacks with the use of technology as some people get irritated by its reminders.

Although standing up is a simple act to break the cycle of sedentary time, it has medical benefits, especially for people with low activity levels.

Specific, adaptive exercises may be beneficial for wheelchair users or others with limited mobility.

For many people, a sedentary lifestyle has become inevitable due to modern life and work, but small changes in your routine, such as getting a little exercise or standing up to make a cup of coffee or tea, can break the cycle of sitting.

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