Sitting All Day Long: Harmful effects and the steps you can take to undo damage

Whether you are sitting for Office Work or, just watching movies sitting for hours, sticking at the same place is harmful. You might know it well that being in this position can make you obese. But, researchers have found that it's not only related with obesity but leads to all sorts of health problems - even if you vigorously exercise after spending a whole day in your chair.

Each hour you spend sitting takes off 21 minutes and 48 seconds of your life expectancy.

 Fact which could surprise you is that:

People who sit for longer periods are more prone to Depression, Hypertension, Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases and even prostate cancer and breast cancer.
-James Levine, Mayo Clinic endocrinologist

 A review of 43 different studies published this month found that the amount of time you spend sitting increases your chance of colon and lung cancers.

Okay, How can we say that ? Read further for the answer...

Your muscles undergo metabolic changes while sedentary 

The metabolic changes that occur in active muscles are far different from that of active muscles.

idle muscles release lower amounts of lipase, an important enzyme

Lipase catalyses hydrolysis of fats and performs essential roles in the digestion, transport and processing of dietary lipids in most organisms.

our bodies become more resistant to insulin when sedentary

Insulin regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. The lack of insulin causes a form of diabetes. It regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats.

expression of genes involved in suppressing inflammation is altered and this may contribute to increase in probability of suffering from cancer in future.

The upshot: From this and the other effects we haven't detected yet, we could say that sitting all day costs us our life and health.

Fewer calories are burned while sitting (approx 50)

It may sound to you like "Only 50 calories", it's so because your body does work to keep you upright and 50 calories per hour is not a small amount, add it up 8 hours a day, 6 days a week and you get hefty amount of 2400 calories.

All this leads to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer

adults who spend four or more hours per day sitting have a 125 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease

So what should you do ? 

I'm not telling you to become a  Baba Ramdev's follower, the key is to :

Incorporate movement into every hour of your day.

You should get up, the first step. You've got to find systematic, organized methods to getting up more often.