I just read an article about the harm done by excessive sitting. This quote caught my attention: Every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life expectancy by 21.8 minutes. Wow! A study points to the act of sitting (not just watching TV), citing the average adult spends 50-70 percent of their time sitting, which has damaging results due to the “absence of skeletal muscle contractions, particularly in the very large muscles of the lower limbs….When muscles don’t contract, they require less fuel, and the surplus, in the form of blood sugar, accumulates in the bloodstream, contributing to diabetes risk and other health concerns.”
I had heard a few years ago that even daily exercise doesn’t erase the damage done by daily long-term sitting. But luckily, even standing while working on computers or watching television can help, which is what I’m trying to do more of. And giving myself a break every hour is much harder, but the more I read studies like this, the more I want to break the habit of trying to get all my work done in one sitting!
