/Video/Why Sitting Too Much Is Harmful to Your Health?

Why Sitting Too Much Is Harmful to Your Health?

Sitting for extended periods and in poor posture is more damaging to the body than you might think. It can lead to spinal disc wear, restrict oxygen flow to the lungs, decrease brain efficiency, and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

A video with over 9 million views on the TED-Ed YouTube channel explains how excessive sitting causes a range of health issues and directly impacts the body.

Doesn’t our body like sitting? Sure, sitting for short periods helps us recover from fatigue or rest after exercise. But modern lifestyles have us sitting more than moving, and our bodies are simply not built for such a sedentary life.

In fact, the opposite is true. The human body is designed for movement, and you can see this in our physical structure.

We have over 360 joints and around 700 skeletal muscles that allow for easy, flexible movement. Our unique physical form enables us to stand upright against the pull of gravity.

Blood relies on body movement to circulate normally. Nerves benefit from motion, and our skin is elastic, meaning it adapts as we move.

So, if every part of your body is ready and waiting for movement, what happens when you don’t?

Effects of Sitting on Bones and Spine 

Let’s start with the spine. Your spine is a long structure made up of vertebrae and discs between them. Joints, muscles, and ligaments hold it all together.

A typical sitting posture, with a hunched back and lowered shoulders, creates uneven pressure on the spine. Over time, this leads to wear on the spinal discs, overstresses the ligaments and joints, and strains the muscles that try to adjust to your slouched position.

How Sitting Affects Lung Oxygen Intake

A hunched posture also compresses the chest cavity, meaning your lungs have less space to expand when you breathe. This temporarily limits the amount of oxygen entering your lungs and bloodstream.

Around the skeletal structure are muscles, nerves, arteries, and veins that make up the body’s soft tissues. Sitting often causes pressure on these tissues, which bear the burden.

Numbness and Swelling in Limbs, Reduced Fat Burning

Have you ever experienced numbness or swelling in your arms or legs while sitting? In areas where pressure is highest, your nerves, arteries, and veins can get pinched, which restricts nerve signals and blood flow, causing numbness and swelling in your limbs.

Prolonged sitting also temporarily halts the activity of lipoprotein lipase, a special enzyme in the walls of blood capillaries that helps break down fat in the blood. So when you’re sitting, you aren’t burning fat as effectively as when you’re moving.

How Does Sitting Too Much Affect the Brain?

Ironically, you often sit down to use your brain, but sitting for too long works against this goal.

Reduced movement slows blood flow and decreases oxygen intake through the lungs. Your brain needs both to stay alert, so your focus diminishes as your brain activity slows down.

Unfortunately, the negative effects of sitting aren’t just short-term. Recent studies show that prolonged sitting is linked to various types of cancer and heart disease and can lead to diabetes, kidney problems, and liver issues.

In fact, researchers have found that globally, physical inactivity causes around 9% of premature deaths each year, which is more than 5 million people.

What seems like a harmless habit can actually alter our health in significant ways.

Fortunately, the solutions to this threat are simple and intuitive.

When sitting is unavoidable, try to change from a slouched posture to sitting upright. And when sitting isn’t necessary, move around more—perhaps set reminders to stand every half hour.

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