The many hazards of prolonged sitting: 1) Poor posture 2) Tight hip flexors 3) Back pain 4) Reduced circulation 5) Increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, depression, and weight gain Need we say more? #mobility #sittingisthenewsmoking
Empowering Adults to get #STRONGERwithAGE by Translating Strength Science into Community Action || University Fellow, Clinical Exercise Physiologist || Strength Training, Science Communication, Implementation Science
Just how dangerous is sitting? When we sit all day (and night!) and our bodies remain in these static and constrained postures our blood cannot flow as freely, leading to reduced blood flow, sheer stress, and dilation. And since we aren't contracting our muscles to help our blood return to our heart, our heart has to work harder. We see a clinically significant rise in our heart rate and blood pressure with prolonged sitting. Long-term, we see that prolonged sitting is associated with loss of cardiovascular fitness, heart disease, and death. Excess sedentary behaviour even promotes 'exercise resistance!' Prolonged sitting even seems to reduce the beneficial responses typically seen after a bout of exercise (like improved glucose, insulin, triglyceride, blood pressure levels). Therefore, if we have been sitting, we may need to complete higher intensity or longer duration exercise before we start to see those benefits. If you don't have the time or space to get out for a long 20-30 minute walk, our 1-minute squat breaks are a high intensity, time-efficient way to get over the exercise resistance hump and give your heart and vascular system the blood flow burst it needs to stay healthy throughout our workday! Set your timer for every hour and start your squat breaks today! Awesome figure by Pinto et al., 2023, Physiol Rev 103: 2561-2622