Sitting Leads to Premature Death?

Right now, as you are sitting and reading this blog, you are inviting a premature death. A recent study by Biswas et al. in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal states that sedentary time, i.e. time sitting down, shows a correlation to the risks of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and some cancer types. These diseases allude us to people lacking physical activity however, in the study done by Biswas et al., it is suggested otherwise.

Sedentary Time. Source:Simpsons Wikia

Physical activity is emphasized deeply in our everyday lives. Data shows physical inactivity has led to many of deaths and is believed that physical activity decreases the risk of diseases. However, in the study done by Biswas et al., the correlation between sedentary time and diseases is independent to physical activity. A related study suggests that reallocating 30-minutes of sedentary time everyday showed to be slightly beneficial, whether it be sleeping, physical activity, or even standing up. The study showed unspecific benefits and were not able to come to a conclusion that physical activity was beneficial.

Pressure Points. Source: Wikimedia Commons

A CNN coverage on this topic by Jen Christensen suggests that a person should stand up every 30 minutes for 1-3 minutes in order to reduce the risks of these diseases. The coverage suggests that when a person is standing up, there are some pressure points in the body which are activated so that the body secretes certain types of chemicals essential for the body. However, when sitting down, the body does not generate these chemicals hence the increase risk of diseases.

The next video describes in further in detail on how the body responds to prolonged sedentary time.

Everyone nowadays spends at least half of their day sitting down, whether it be at home watching TV, at work finishing up a presentation, or even sitting down to read a book. Contrastingly, healthy living is emphasized so greatly in our lives. Balancing healthy living and our normal lives can be struggling, but taking small steps can help reach that struggle. Standing up and stretching every 30 minutes or so can help, as well as exercising at least 10 minutes a day can decrease the risk of harmful diseases.

-Tommy Kim