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5 Ways Your Desk Job Is Ruining Your Health
Believe it or not, being inactive is now a bigger problem than being obese. We, as humans, are not meant to sit as much as we do. We have evolved so that it’s natural for us to move and not to live these sedentary, inactive, “comfortable” lifestyles. Even if you are doing your exercises at least two hours a week, it is not enough to counteract the effects a sedentary job has on your health. Doing thirty minutes of exercise after or before work is not enough, we need to move our bodies frequently and regularly, because sitting for five hours without standing up is the same as smoking more than one pack of cigarettes.
It is all connected with the way our metabolisms works when we are sitting, moving around or standing. When we are up on our feet, the body is using our energy in a different way than when we are sitting, or exercising. The calories are burnt at a different rate, stored in a different way, and the brain just functions differently. Muscles in your back and legs contract and that increases the production of enzymes which break up the fat in the blood stream. When you are moving, the body is using the energy to carry out basic movements and functions, but when you are sitting, calories are not being burnt, fat is building up, and that makes it difficult to get up and move from your desk chair. So, read on and find out how is sitting ruining your health.
It Can Cause Diabetes
After you eat something, your blood sugar levels rise and reach their peak in after about an hour. But, if you are immobile, and your body has no activity to use all that build up energy, glucose turns into fat. You can prevent that by just going for a walk after your meal. If all the fat gets used up, this leaves less glucose to turn into fat. You will be fighting off diabetes, obesity and weight gain. A major study that had about 800 participants found that people who spent the most time in a sitting position, are twice likely to develop diabetes, compared to those who spent the the least.
It Can Cause Obesity
If you intake about 1,000 calories in your daily food intake, and do no exercise at all. If you work at a sedentary workplace, you will gain weight. But if you make any kind of movement during the day, you will maintain the same body weight.
It Can Cause Muscular Problems
Muscles need to experience some movement and flexing in order to stay healthy, because if they don’t, they can become rather stiff. If you sit all the time, your muscles will get used to sitting and that can cause many health issues like leg swelling or a vein disease. Simple functions like standing, running, walking and dancing will become harder to do, so use those muscles and don’t let them go to waste.
It Can Cause Depression
Since sitting is reducing your circulation, it can be harder for those feel-good hormones to reach the receptors in the brain. One study has shown that people who sat longer suffer from depression at very higher rates than the ones who sat less. People who spent over seven hours every day sitting are almost 50% more likely to be depressed, compared to those who spent four hours or less.
It Can Cause Earlier Death from a Heart Disease
A study in which 120.000 women and men participated has found a higher rate of mortality, including that from cardiovascular diseases, when comparing people who have been sitting for a long period of time and the ones who didn’t. People who sat over 6 hours a day had a greater chance of dying from a heart disease, than the ones who sat less than three hours a day.
If you want to improve your health, you need to better your metabolism and you can achieve that with simple things. Perhaps instead of loading the dishwasher, wash the dishes yourself, go out for a walk instead of spending time in the evening beside your computer, use the stairs instead of the elevator, and drink more water. These are all simple changes that you can easily implement in your daily routine, and they can only have benefits on your overall health.
