Spending too much time in a chair can unravel your fitness goals and make you feel older. Here’s how to counteract it. We’ve all heard that sitting too long is bad for you.
We’re not evolved to do it, it can undermine our exercise gains, it causes dead-butt syndrome. Sitting might not quite be “the new smoking ,” but too much of it can still shorten your life. “Sitting is actually ageing you faster,” said Katy Bowman, a biomechanist and author of My Perfect Movement Plan .
Whether it’s bone or joint health, muscle mass or energy level, she added, “a lot of what you perceive as ageing is going to be heavily influenced by your sitting time”. And we spend a lot of time sitting. Numbers vary around how much average Americans sit per day, but it may be as long as nine-and-a-half hours.
Studies suggest women sit less than men but most agree we all sit more than previous generations. The consequences can be serious. A study published at the beginning of the year followed 480,000 people in Taiwan older than 13 and found those who sit most of the workday had a 34% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than those with less sedentary jobs – and a 16% higher risk of mortality overall.
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