Angela Onwuzoo
Physicians warn that prolonged sitting poses severe health risks, noting that many individuals are unaware of the consequences associated with this sedentary lifestyle.
The experts said sitting for too long has been associated with obesity and increased blood pressure, especially among people with risk factors.
According to them, humans are built to stand upright as the heart and cardiovascular system work more effectively that way.
The physicians pointed out that swelling in the ankles, feet, and legs is often caused by a build-up of fluid in these areas due to too much sitting or standing.
Speaking on the inherent dangers, a Consultant Physician and Cardiologist, Dr John Asekhame, said it is recommended to sit for too long.
The expert, who works with Providence Multi-Specialty Hospital, Abuja, said though not applicable to everyone, some people are susceptible to developing cardiovascular diseases by sitting for too long.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH Healthwise, the cardiologist noted, “Sitting for too long increases your risk for obesity which increases your risk of adverse cardiovascular diseases. Sitting for too long is dangerous to health.
” If you notice some people when they sit for too long, they start having leg swelling, and the rest. So, it is encouraged to stand up probably after 30 minutes, exercise, and walk around or shake your body instead of being sedentary for a long time.
” Sitting for too long means that you are not consuming energy. It means that you are not burning excess fat or energy, which increases your risk of storing what you eat into fat.
“When that gets on for too long, you can develop what is called insulin resistance. So, insulin resistance can increase your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.”
Asekhame reiterated that sitting for too long increases the risk of developing diabetes in people who have a risk, warning that diabetes on its own can cause stroke and heart attack even ‘if your blood pressure is normal”.
Continuing, the physician said, “If you sit down for too long, your blood will not be moving as in somebody who moves up and down and jumps up and down.
” Reduced blood flow can increase your risk of getting what is called thrombosis formation and can increase the risk of developing a blood clot in some people.
” If those blood clots dislodge, if they drop in the heart, they can cause a heart attack, if they drop in the lungs, they can cause pulmonary embolism. If they enter the brain, they can cause strokes.”
He advised people to shun sedentary lifestyles, exercise and be healthy. For those already living with cardiovascular diseases, he urged them to go for cardiovascular risk assessment.
The American Heart Association also confirmed that too much sedentary time increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and death.
In an advisory published on its website titled, ‘Sitting too much may raise heart disease risk’, the foundation expressed worry that sedentary time is rising, lamenting that adults spend more than nine hours a day being sedentary.
AHA said people are spending an estimated six to eight hours a day engaged in sedentary behaviour, which includes sitting, driving, reading, TV viewing, screen time, and computer use.
“Our bodies were built to move all day. They weren’t built to be idle and stationary with a metabolic rate similar to a person in a coma.
“When we’re depriving ourselves of that kind of essential muscular activity throughout the day, very potent things happen inside our bodies”, it noted.
Also speaking, a Senior Consultant at the Lagos State Health Service Commission, Dr.-Sylvester Ikhisemojie, said indeed sitting for too long causes adverse health events.
According to him, this lack of physical activity is now known to be the precursor of loss of muscle mass, loss of bone density, progressive weight gain, and deep vein thrombosis.
“This has spurned a new term in the medical lexicon known as The Sitting Disease, a description of the range of effects that prolonged sitting can have on our overall health.
“These problems have been variously identified to include diabetes, high blood pressure, formation of blood clots in the lower limbs and elsewhere in the body, and the incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, itself a relatively new disease condition.
“All these problems, in addition to the ones already named in the paragraph above, constitute a significant threat to our overall health and life expectancy.
” The cumulative effects of these problems cannot be stressed too strongly. At the close of work and following the long hours sitting at our desks in the office, we take another long drive back home, perhaps take a shower and head to the dinner table before retiring to the sofa or couch for several more hours watching television.
“Home videos, Netflix, and a variety of entertainment channels keep us engaged in the sitting position for several more hours in the early evening before we retire to bed. We wake up the following morning and continue the damaging cycle of activity.
” Such physical inactivity has now also been linked to depression, certain types of cancer, and diminishing levels of physical fitness”, he explained.
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