How Extended Sitting Can Harm You

Written By Alla Levin
September 07, 2021

How Extended Sitting Can Harm You

We all sit down for a long period of time, and we think nothing of it. It’s just something we all do because of our jobs. It’s normal to be sitting for about 6-10 hours out of the day these days.

You might spend 5-6 hours sitting down at work, or perhaps more. And then when you come home, you sit on the sofa at the dining table. It’s quite bizarre actually because the body is designed to move, walk, run and jump.

It’s not something that most of us do these days. If you knew the harm you are doing to your body just by sitting for hours on end, you wouldn’t take such a nonchalant approach.

Moving around helps to burn fat

Did you know that the body parts you move will ask for energy from their local areas? So if you move your arms more often, the fat around your arms will be less than your legs. This is something that you should be doing if you want to burn fat around your body.

This is also why so many employee well-being experts recommend that employers allow employees to work out at lunchtime or perhaps have allocated gym time sessions during the week. No wonder large businesses create gyms in their headquarters because they want their employees to stay physically fit, so they stay mentally fit. 

How Extended Sitting Can Harm You: Spine painHow Extended Sitting Can Harm You

You probably know about this, as everyone that sits for long hours will always touch their lower back subconsciously as they try to rub it and make the stiffness and irritation go away.

Speak with a Chiropractor about lumbar spine pain due to sitting, and they will tell you how you can fix it. They recommend you have better cushioning for your spine and that every hour, you get up and stand for 5 minutes or so.

It’s going to be great for your spine in the long term, and you can lessen the pain to your pelvis in the meantime as well. Trapping nerves in your back occurs the most when you spend so much time sitting down.

Bad mood

When you move around and exert energy, your body reacts positively. Have you ever noticed that when you work out, you feel happier? This is because the body releases endorphins, and this makes us feel positive and more friendly.

When you sit down for a long time, this can result in a bad mood, depression, and being more irritable. We don’t quite understand this, but experts think there is a link between sitting for hours and feeling down and depressed at the end of the workday.

Hopefully, you will have learned why you need to get up and begin to move around. Don’t sit down for hours on end. Speak with your boss about this and see if you can forge a policy that encourages more movement at work.

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