Sedentary Lifestyle Is Killing Us

According to WHO ( World Health Organization), 60 to 85 % of people in the world do not engage in enough physical activity.

What is a sedentary lifestyle?

A sedentary lifestyle is defined as behavior such as sitting, leaning with extremely less amount of physical movement. Any individual who does less amount of physical activity with irregularities is living a sedentary life. Some examples of this are watching T.V., playing video games, using a computer, sitting at work or school, sleeping more than usual. From a physically demanding life to reduced physical activities people have exposed themselves to a high risk of developing deadly health problems. In this article, you will learn why a sedentary lifestyle is killing most people around the world.

Why Sedentary Lifestyle Is Killing Us?

An individual should participate in at least 150 minutes of low-intensity exercises or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise. But most of us don’t even work out for an hour straight. People are sitting more and moving less, eating more, and fasting less.

Metabolic dysfunction is a bunch of conditions that happen together, when this happens you either have too much of some substances or too little of it to be healthy.

A sedentary lifestyle is related to metabolic dysfunctions, like elevated plasma triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and reduced insulin sensitivity. Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) is a protein that interacts at the cellular level, and a low LPL concentration is known to decrease the plasma HDL cholesterol level while affecting the prevalence of severe high blood pressure, diabetes-induced dyslipidemia, metabolic disorders caused by aging, metabolic syndrome, and coronary artery diseases. Moreover, LPL activity is reduced by physical inactivity. LPL activity is highly sensitive to physical inactivity and low-intensity muscular contractile activity can serve as evidence that sedentary behavior is a risk factor for various metabolic disorders.

Physical inactivity reduces bone mineral density. In a study on healthy adult men and women, 12 weeks of bed rest decreased the mineral density of the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and greater trochanter by 1%–4%.

Technology has made us sedentary than ever. It has brought inactive desk jobs that pay you well that need a minimum amount of physical activity. Sedentary jobs have increased by 50% since 1950. People have become weaker, less motivated, less excited, and unhealthy.

Effects Of Sedentary Lifestyle

1. Obesity

Being an obese person has many health disadvantages. Many people have become overweight due to their lifestyle. Sitting in front of T.V., eating unhealthy foods at the same time is normalized now. Youngsters spend less time on the grounds and more time on their laptops and phones which is not ideal especially when you are in youth. A study in 2020 tells that the reason for weight gain is sedentary time.

2. Cancer Risk

Sitting for long hours and being physically inactive can increase the risk of dangerous cancers. Studies have shown that the cancer risk was 13% higher in people with high sedentary time compared to people with a low sedentary period time. It increases prostate cancer risk, lung cancer risk and colon cancer risk, and more.

3. Osteoporosis

Making your bones brittle and fragile has become normal. People who spend a lot of time sitting can have a high risk of osteoporosis. The sedentary lifestyle makes your bones weak. Fractures in the bone especially in the hip and spine are dangerous enough to make a person disable. Nowadays youngsters are having trouble with their bones. The average age of having osteoporosis was 50 but in the last 20 years, it has reduced to 30. People have become more sedentary and weak day by day.

3. Heart Disease & Diabetes

People having inactive lifestyles are prone to cardiovascular diseases. Less movement implies less blood circulation in the body. The less active person or less fit has a greater risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. Men who watch T.V. more than 40 hours per week are more vulnerable to type 2 diabetes than men who spend at least 1 hour daily in physical activity. Sitting for long, watching T.V. for a long time leads to obesity. The excess percentage of fat in the body is responsible for high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. The average age of developing type 2 diabetes is 45 but more youngsters under the age of 40 are having serious problems with type 2 diabetes because of their day-to-day habits.

4. No Flexibility

Almost no flexibility is present in the body when there is less amount of physical movement. When there’s low blood circulation in the body your muscles shrink and makes the tendon lose their water content which eventually makes your body stiffer. Youngsters have become much more exposed to this situation.

5. Mental Health

Doing nothing causes a huge toll on our minds. When our body is not fit and healthy our mind pays for it. Sedentary time increases the risk of depression and anxiety. When our body is comfortable our mind gets uncomfortable. There is no point in going to the therapist for your mental disorders when your habits are a source of it.

Solutions To Sedentary behavior

• Exercise daily for a long time. A minimum of 30 minutes of exercise is recommended for a day.
• Go for a run in the morning or the evening.
• Take stairs instead of elevators
• Eat healthily
• Sit in the sun for a while
• Ditch bad habits or put a limit to it
• Meditate for at least 10 minutes a day.