Is sitting the new smoking?
By Dr. Annika
When I grew up, there was a lot of incidental exercise: Walking from home to the train station, and from the train station to school; standing for 20 – 30 minutes if the train was full; bicycle as the main mode of transport (it was Denmark, where that is largely still the case and there are dedicated bike paths most places); walking up stairs rather than using a lift; standing in a queue at the post office or bank; cooking from scratch; using the bicycle to go shopping; hanging washing on the line rather than using a dryer etc.
As a society, we have moved much more to sedentary lifestyles. A lot of people sit at home, sit in the car, sit at work, and come home and sit some more.
Why is this detrimental?
There are quite a few reasons.
Standing vs. sitting
When you stand, your metabolism is about 10% higher than when you sit. If you have the same food intake but spend your life sitting, you will put on weight with all the consequences that you would already be aware of. But just as an example, as few as 5 extra kilos make a difference in terms of arthritis and accompanying pain.
Possible solutions: Make a point of walking rather than driving for short distances; use a sit/stand desk; choose the stairs instead of the lift.
I notice when I spend a lot of time sitting that my ankles swell a little – certainly more than when I am on my feet all day. This is because the lymphatic fluid that needs to be returned to the heart is pumped back by contracting the calf muscles, which doesn’t happen when you sit. The space in the groin gets compressed too, which is where the lymphatics have to pass through to get back to the heart. The lymphatics elsewhere also have a tendency to stagnate. The immune system relies a lot on the lymphatic system – isn’t it amazing how everything in the body relates to everything else?
Possible solution: Get up at least once an hour to move around. For extra credit, get yourself a glass of water. And lie down with your feet up at the end of the day, that helps the fluid drain.
While on the topic of lymphatics – a note on slouching. If you sit slouched, your spine curls into a C shape, which means that the front of your body is scrunched up. The diaphragm, the big muscle at the base of your ribcage that breathes you, has a harder time expanding your ribcage in that position, because it encounters solid organs such as the kidneys.
Try it for yourself: Sit up straight and take a deep breath: Which part of your body moved? Hopefully you felt the bottom ribs expand. If you sit slouched, which part of your body moves? It’s likely that there is a pushing out of your belly, and/or more movement at the top of your ribcage. This also stops the diaphragm from pulling back the lymph into your chest efficiently. It also has implications for your neck and shoulders, check out the articles linked below.
The Brain
Nerve cells need two things to thrive: Food (oxygen and nutrients) and stimulation. When I have spent a few hours on the computer, I end up wired and tired. This is because more than 90% of the stimulation of the brain comes from the muscles, ligaments, joints and tendons. The brain likes changes, and adapts to static input. This is like your screen turning itself off if there has been no activity. What that means is that your brain stops paying attention to small coordination movements in favour of paying attention to whatever your head is paying attention to (screen, meeting etc).
This means that your ligaments and muscles stay in one position for extended periods of time, and if this is not a good position to be in, you overtax the muscles, which get sore and un-elastic if this is a frequent occurrence. You know those muscles that feel like ropes rather than soft and pliable? That’s how that happens. It’s like a very slow whiplash injury. The technical term is “repetitive strain”. The body adapts to function better in whatever postures you stay in a lot of time.
Possible Solutions: Brains work so much better when there are regular interruptions, and just simple walking helps reset the system. If you are raising children, you know that they need time on the playground or in the yard to blow off steam. Their learning is much improved with movement. Or you could try a little yoga.
Or you could break out in song, that lights the brain up in ways nothing else does. Maybe both at the same time?
Let us know how you go!
Other relevant articles: