REVERSE The Damage From Prolonged Sitting With THIS?

By Kevin DiDonato MS, CES


Let’s see if this sounds familiar…

You wake up at the crack of dawn with your alarm blaring in your ear.

You get up, take a shower, and begin your day.  You have breakfast and head out the door, only to sit in your car until you get to work.

Once at work, you once again sit for the next six to eight hours of your day doing work.

At quitting time, you get up, head to your car, head home, have dinner, and maybe watch a little TV before bed.

Then you repeat this whole entire process the next day.

Does this sound like your typical day?

If so, there is something you should know that may just save your life!

Excessive Sitting and Health

Over the last few years, it has become increasingly evident that sitting too long may be having an impact in your health.

In fact, studies have proven that sitting on your duff for long periods of time may actually be detrimental to your health.

Meaning you could DIE at a much younger at than previously expected all because you sit for the majority of the day.

Not to mention that prolonged sitting increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes, heart failure, and of course, weight gain.

To make matters worse, a recent study showed that over 54 countries, 430,000 deaths was associated with sedentary behavior (like prolonged sitting).

So, it’s safe to say that staying active throughout the day may be one of the best ways to improve your health and extend your longevity.

But how much exercise needs to be done?  Is there a set number?

Up until recently, there hasn’t been a set time, number, or frequency of days of exercise to combat the ill effects of prolonged sitting (or other sedentary behavior).

Until now, that is!

A recent study has determined that there IS a recommendation for exercise to combat a sedentary lifestyle.

How Much Exercise Is Needed?

In order to combat a sedentary lifestyle, you need to exercise and stay active.

That means you should be walking more instead of emailing or calling.

Taking the stairs instead of the elevator…and parking a little bit further away from the building!

Or you could hit the gym before or after work in order to protect your health.

But how much exercise is needed to combat your day job?  Well, it’s actually pretty easy to figure.

Instead of just giving you a set number of minutes to exercise, researchers determined that you need to look at how much you sit throughout the day.

Do you sit for six hours?  If so, the researchers have determined that one half hour of exercise could go a long way to combat prolonged sitting.

And if you sit eight hours or more, then you may need an hour or more of exercise to improved your life.

But here’s the best part: You don’t need to do all the exercise all at once!  You can break it up throughout the day.

Take a 10 minute walk?  That counts to reverse the damage.  Did you bike for a half-hour during lunch?  Then you are either complete for the day or you’re halfway there!

Take Home Message

Studies have shown that prolonged sitting or a sedentary lifestyle could shorten your life and destroy your health.

Prolonged sitting or a sedentary lifestyle has been linked to an increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other causes for death.

However, one way to combat a sedentary lifestyle is to exercise!  The current recommendation is to exercise

between one half-hour or an hour depending on how long you sit during the day.

If you sit for six hours, then you should focus on one-half hour.  If you sit for an hour each day, you should focus on
getting at least one hour of exercise each day.

This could reduce your disease risk, prolong your life, help you burn fat, and keep you healthy for a lot longer.

So, if you sit for a majority of your day, then you should focus on increasing your activity in order to improve your health, wellness, and longevity.