Have you realised that sitting for long hours can shorten your life? Researchers have reported that persons who sit for long hours have a high risk of death from heart disease. Even constant sitting at work has side effects which can even lead to bad mental health. The hazard of sitting at work can even make the person disabled and even trigger health risks. Studies even state that people who are caught in sedentary jobs will suffer double the risk of a specific type of colon cancer. Remember that too much sitting not only damages your health but it cannot be undone even with regular exercising. Experts have found that there are at least 24 chronic conditions associated with the hazards of sitting at work. Here are some of the 15 health risks of extended sitting at work.
After a year of sitting at work, you can slowly experience high cholesterol. Those sitting for more hours are less likely to have desirable levels of cholesterol. Prolonged sitting has more chance to cause disorder in metabolic function resulting in increased plasma triglyceride levels, declined levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and at the same time decreased insulin sensitivity.
Like tobacco, even sitting for long hours is considered to be hazardous to health. The hazard of sitting at work does shrink a person's energy expenditure since the body's muscle is not completely utilised. Moreover even the calorie burning gets minimised.
Muscles can only burn less fat and there is more slothful blood flow due to prolonged sitting. More importantly this would let the fatty acids to bung up the heart. Persons with the most sedentary life style are more likely to have cardiovascular disease.
With low physical activity, there is risk of dying from heart disease and cancer. Some of the health hazards of sitting at the desk all day long is development of corpus uteri, breast and ovary cancer.
Sitting at desk will only harm the body's ability to handle blood sugar. This would try to cause reduced sensitivity to the hormone insulin which is mostly responsible for carrying glucose from the blood into cells and later where it is utilised for energy.
Muscles which are active pumps fresh blood and oxygen through the brain and then triggers discharge to all sorts of mood enhancing chemicals. On the other hand, when you have an inactive life style, everything gets slow including your brain.
Recent research shows that metabolic syndrome is the ill effects of sedentary way of life. Sitting for long periods of time contributes to the risk of metabolic syndrome (cluster of conditions such as high blood pressure, increased blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist and anomalous cholesterol levels).
The health risks of sitting for long hours can be a major cause of back pain. Prolonged sitting can even alter the firmness of lumbar spine and add to the risk of low back injury.
When there is no spine movement it can become vulnerable to damage. Remember when we do some activity, soft disks between the vertebrae develop and contract which eventually tries to absorb blood and nutrients. When we tend to sit for long hours the disks are compressed unevenly.
The hazard of sitting at work can be a cause of concern as the interaction gets limited and this isn't good for the psychological well being.
Extensive sitting will slow the blood circulation. This can be the reason for fluids to pool in the legs. And some of the health problems range from swollen ankle to varicose veins.
Neuropathy can also be caused due to being inactive and holding on to one position for long hours.
If you are going to be parked at the desk for long hours, you tend to put a lot of pressure on the hips, knees and spine which does lead to weakness and tendinitis.
Sitting in one position for a long time will injure your nerves and may cause you to feel the discomfort and numbness.
If you are going to be sitting at the desk throughout the day it can make you feel down in the dumps. The longer you sit you are more likely to experience the symptoms of depression.