Is Sitting All Day Harming Your Health?

Google “Sitting is the new smoking” and you will have reading material for weeks. Prolonged sitting has been linked to: back pain, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and colon cancer.

Sitting is a requirement for many people’s daily lives. People spend hours behind a computer, behind the wheel of a truck, and we even ask our children to sit for hours at a desk during the school year. It has been documented that adding exercise into your routine at the end of the day may not be enough to combat the effects of sitting the majority of the day.

McFarland Clinic Webster City Physical Therapist Jessica Hrnicek, DPT offers some tips to add movement into your day.

Tips for Adding Movement Into Daily Activities

• Stand up to answer phone calls
• Set a timer on your phone and make a point to stand at least 7 ½  minutes of every hour (that equals 1 hour less sitting during the day!)
• Take the long way around when getting up to use the restroom/retrieve items from the printer, etc.
• Consider “walking meetings” when meeting with co-workers to discuss ideas
• Spend 20 minutes of your lunch hour walking
• Consider sitting on a stability ball instead of a computer chair promoting “active sitting”

Sitting Time Calculator

Visit www.JustStand.org to calculate your risk of “sitting disease”. Find the ‘Sitting Time Calculator’ under the “Tools” heading and enter the times you spend sitting during the day to calculate your risk. While there, check out the sit to stand workstations if you are interested in taking a big step at improving your health.

Remember that adding small amounts of physical activity into your daily activities should not replace the recommended 30 minutes of activity recommended daily.