2023-10-16 06:07:20
According to a recent American study, sitting too long is harmful to your health. This most basic position would increase the risk of depression and anxiety.
What’s more mundane than sitting still? On your sofa watching a good television series, on a coffee chair with a good book or in front of your office computer during a working day… This most common position would, however, be sneaky. A study which demonstrates this was published last September in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It was carried out on 49,841 people aged 60 or over, between 2013 and 2021.
Participants wore an activity tracker to record their movements and still times. During the study, “dementia” was shown to be one of the biggest impacts caused by sitting for too long.
A decline in mental abilities
This pathology is a general term that refers to a decline in mental abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life. On its official website, l’OMS recalled that dementia covers “several diseases that affect memory, thinking and the ability to carry out daily tasks”.
Research has shown that people who sit for ten hours or more each day are 8% more likely to develop dementia over the next seven years. For individuals who remain motionless for more than twelve hours in a day, the risk is greater than 63%.
Be careful, however, if sport is often cited as preventing this decline, the study carried out by the universities of Southern California and Arizona explained that physical activity, even if practiced every day, does not solve everything. People who play sports are as likely as immobile people to develop dementia. “It seems that you cannot escape the risks by exercising,” summarized Professor David Raichlen, co-author of the study.
Cause of other serious illnesses
Research has also shown that sitting for long hours increases back pain, of course, but also increases the risk of muscle degeneration, heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, and even premature death. The cause of these threats would be poor blood circulation when sitting.
Despite the overwhelming results, let’s stand
Yann Coudrec, a physiotherapist, was contacted by le Huffington Post in January 2015 and gave a little tip to prevent sitting from having repercussions on our mental or physical health. “You have to take 45-second breaks every 45 minutes,” he told our colleagues. At work, the healthcare professional advised going to the photocopier, or even going directly to see your work colleague rather than contacting him by email.
Every day, it is possible to adopt a few habits that will allow you to gain a few additional years of life expectancy, such as: doing stretches, making phone calls while standing (while walking, it is even better), staying up as long as possible in the public transport, working standing up (from your kitchen island, for example).
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