Research has linked sitting for long periods of time with a number of health concerns. They include obesity and a cluster of conditions — increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and unhealthy cholesterol levels — that make up metabolic syndrome.
“Sitting all day will make the front of your body tighten up—especially your hip flexors, rectus femoris (a quad muscle), pectoralis (chest), upper traps (upper back), and anterior scalenes (the front of your neck),” explains David Reavy, a Chicago-based orthopedic physical therapist at React Physical Therapy.
Sitting or lying down for too long increases your risk of chronic health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Too much sitting can also be bad for your mental health. Being active is not as hard as you think. There are lots of simple ways to include some physical activity in your day.
But when experts analyze the handfuls of studies examining the effects of prolonged sitting, the data shows that sitting for more than eight hours a day can have a serious impact on a person's health.
Sitting can also lead to overall deconditioning, early muscle fatigue, weakened core stabilizers, and tightening of the hip flexors, resulting in increased stress on your low back and reduced spine flexibility.
The longer one sits, the more strenuous it becomes for the body. If you suffer with nerve pain, sitting for long periods of time is slowly damaging the nerves over time. Sitting can affect the nerves most vulnerable to pain sensations, such as tingling, burning or stabbing pain.
Researchers analyzed 13 studies of sitting time and activity levels. They found that those who sat for more than eight hours a day with no physical activity had a risk of dying similar to that posed by obesity and smoking.
The amount of shortening added up to about eight years of aging, the scientists estimated—meaning that inactive women who spent more time sitting were about eight years older, on average, than those who were inactive but spent less time sedentary.
Too much sitting, or as much as 10 hours a day of not moving around, can increase your risk of chronic disease, including high cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar — all risk factors linked to the No. 1 cause of death in the United States: heart disease.
It can be due to reduced blood flow, tight muscles and ligaments, fluid pooled in the body's lower extremities, or pins and needles sensations in the feet.
Sitting for prolonged periods of time can be a major cause of back pain, cause increased stress of the back, neck, arms and legs and can add a tremendous amount of pressure to the back muscles and spinal discs.
Mental health conditions that one should be looking at in case it interferes with daily life are anxiety, ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, bipolar disorders, and even depression. Anxiety is also one of the primary causes as it leads to the feeling of being 'unsettled'.
Over time, being stuck sitting in a bent position on a daily basis—from your desk at work to your couch at home—shortens your hip flexors, a group of muscles located at the front of your hips, causing pain. Tight hip flexors also contribute to lower back soreness, another common complaint.
“When you spend too much time in one position, you tend to get stiff and sore,” says Jennifer Joslyn, D.P.T., a physical therapist at Motion Minnesota who specializes in treating low back and hip pain. And feeling constantly stiff and sore can be limiting.
In this recent preliminary study, scientists found that more time spent sitting was linked to thinning of the brain's medial temporal lobe. This region is critical to memory formation. The team focused on the medial temporal lobe because this area of the brain declines with age and that leads to memory impairment.
However, a closer look reveals that the pressure on the spine is at its lowest when we are lying in the supine position (it is under eight times less pressure than when we're sitting). It promotes most complete muscle relaxation, stress-relief and slower heartbeat.
Here are some of the things that happen in your body when you spend too much time sitting. Blood flow slows down, which allows fatty acids to build up in the blood vessels. This can lead to heart disease. Your body's ability to process fats is decreased.
LOW risk indicates sitting less than 4 hours per day. MEDIUM risk indicates sitting 4 to 8 hours per day. HIGH risk indicates sitting 8 to 11 hours per day. VERY HIGH risk indicates sitting more than 11 hours per day.
Sit for a maximum of 30 minutes at one go. Even sources like the National Health Service of UK, Pain Science and even Dr. Mercola are also recommending the same duration for sitting down.
Including exercise and physical activity, people across the U.S. only spend approximately 3 hours out of the day simply standing. This phenomenon has been coined as “Sitting Disease,” which, broadly speaking, is defined as a condition of increased sedentary behavior associated with adverse health effects.
Yes, prolonged sitting can cause sciatica. The weight of your upper body is displaced entirely onto your lower body putting pressure on your sciatic nerve which causes sciatica.
Yes, prolonged sitting can cause sciatica to develop, or even worsen if you've had a mild case in the past. Thai is primarily due to the pressure exerted on the sciatic nerve over time which comes with prolonged periods of sitting.