What happens to your body when you sit for 6 hours a day? Over time, you may face 4 consequences

In 2019, a team of experts led by British behavioral futurist William Higham compiled a report on how people's health will be affected in the future based on people's current work habits.

Experts conducted a survey of more than 3,000 office workers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, and found that most office workers spend about 6 hours sitting at their desks every day.

90% of office workers become unhealthy due to their work environment, which ultimately makes it more difficult to work. In addition, these office workers suffered from eyestrain (50%), back pain (49%) and headaches (48%) as a direct result of their work.

Based on the findings, experts designed a life-size model, 'Emma', to show what happens to office workers physically and visually in 20 years if they continue to work with poor posture.

And Emma has a lot of injuries:

back pain and neck strain; varicose veins in the legs; a round tummy; often sore eyes and decreased vision; frequent headaches; swollen wrists and ankles; sallow complexion; frequent eczema; forearms and Red thighs; hairy ears and nose, swollen sinuses…

Does being sedentary really make us look like Emma? What are the health risks of sitting for a long time? Let Xiao Jiu explain it to you in detail!

1. What will happen if you sit for 6 hours a day?

In 2015, the national death risk atlas released by the British National Health System (NHS) showed that sedentary life has become the sixth major death risk factor for British nationals .

In addition, a study published in the BMJ sub-journal "Epidemiology and Community Health" by Queen's University Belfast found that about 70,000 people in the UK die each year due to sedentary behavior.

It is estimated that about 30% of adults in the UK sit for more than 6 hours a day. The consequences of these sedentary actions cost the NHS an extra £700 million a year.

The findings also show that being sedentary increases people's risk of many diseases.

These include type 2 diabetes, bowel cancer, uterine cancer, lung cancer, heart disease and other diseases. Plus, being sedentary was associated with a 25 percent increased risk of early death .

2. Often sitting for a long time may face 4 consequences

Many scientists have found that sitting for a long time is "criminal".

In 2013, a study by the University of Queensland in Australia pointed out that 1 hour of sedentary life can shorten life expectancy by about 22 minutes, which is equivalent to smoking 2 cigarettes .

According to the review in the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", sedentary is not just sitting, but also includes all forms of sitting such as sitting for a long time, watching TV, playing mobile phones and watching TV . Sitting for a long time not only consumes little energy, but also makes all parts of the body lack of activity.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone who needs to sit in front of the computer for a long time to understand the following consequences of sitting for a long time:

1. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases

Sitting still for a long time will obviously slow down the blood flow rate of the human body, which will cause fatty acids to start to accumulate on the inner wall of the blood vessels, and the blood will become thicker. After a long time, it is easy to cause coronary heart disease, especially for people with arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, etc. For middle-aged and elderly people with diseases such as lipemia, it may also induce cerebral thrombosis and myocardial infarction.

In addition, being sedentary for a long time also increases the risk of developing blood clots in lower extremity veins and varicose veins.

2. Diabetes

When sitting for a long time, the glucose in the blood will be absorbed by the muscles, which can easily lead to insulin resistance. At the same time, due to long-term inactivity, excess energy will be converted into fat and accumulated in the body.

With the increase of fat, it will also lead to the loss of the ability of the cells in the fat accumulation area to accept insulin receptors, which will reduce the responsiveness of insulin, cause abnormal blood sugar metabolism , and increase the risk of diabetes.

3. Infertility

For men, sitting for a long time will oppress the reproductive organs , and pathological damage to the testes may occur, which in turn reduces the spermatogenesis of the testicles and eventually leads to "asthenospermia".

In addition, prolonged sitting may lead to sexual dysfunction and infertility, and increase the risk of prostatitis and epididymitis in men.

For women, sitting for a long time will make the perineum airtight, which will cause local heating and sweating, making the perineum easy to breed bacteria and bacterial infection.

4. Alzheimer's disease

Because sitting for a long time will make blood gather in the lower extremities, the circulation of blood will be weakened, and in severe cases, it will cause insufficient blood supply to the brain , resulting in reduced supply of oxygen and nutrients to the brain.

Typical symptoms are dizziness, memory loss, inability to concentrate, easy fatigue, and limb weakness. It may also be an important risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.

3. Do 3 points well to minimize the damage of sitting for a long time

For most office workers, it is difficult to escape the "fate" of needing to sit for a long time, so how to minimize the damage of sitting for a long time becomes very important. It is recommended that office workers can usually do the following:

• Be active every 30 minutes

Getting up and moving around every 30 minutes of sitting, even for just a few minutes, can have health benefits, according to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology .

Among them, getting up and moving for 1-5 minutes can reduce the risk of sedentary-related death by 14%, while moving for 5-10 minutes can reduce the risk of sedentary-related death by about 23%.

The study also found that those who sat for less than 30 minutes at a time had the lowest risk of death.

• Correct wrong sitting posture

The correct sitting posture should be to sit back against the back of the chair , allowing the back of the chair to help bear part of the body pressure; the chest should be about a fist away from the desk; the feet should be bent, the thighs and calves should form a 90-degree angle, and the soles of the feet should be flat on the ground.

In addition, when sitting, you should also pay attention to avoid wrong postures such as crossing your legs, hunchback, and paralyzed sitting.

• proper exercise

A study published in the British Medical Journal found that sitting for 10 hours a day increased the risk of death by 48% compared with 7.5 hours a day, and the risk of death increased significantly by about 192% for 12 hours a day. %.

The study pointed out that any activity can help prolong life. Compared with people who are seldom or basically inactive, people who have an average of about 5 hours of light activity or about 24 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per day can reduce the risk of death. about half.

Usually try to avoid sitting for a long time. When sitting, pay attention to maintaining a correct sitting posture. Every 30 minutes of sitting, you should stand up and stretch your body. You should also develop a good habit of exercising.

References:

[1]Heron L， O'Neill C， McAneney H， et al.Direct healthcare costs of sedentary behaviour in the UK.J Epidemiol Community Health 2019;73：625-629.

[2]Patel AV， Maliniak ML， Rees-Punia E， Matthews CE， Gapstur SM. Prolonged Leisure Time Spent Sitting in Relation to Cause-Specific Mortality in a Large US Cohort. Am J Epidemiol. 2018;187(10)：2151–8.

[3]Ekelund U， Tarp J， Steene-Johannessen J， Hansen B H， Jefferis B， Fagerland M W et al. Dose-response associations between accelerometry measured physical activity and sedentary time and all cause mortality： systematic review and harmonised meta-analysis.BMJ 2019; 366 ：l4570.

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