Why is a sedentary lifestyle dangerous for a child? consultation on the topic

A sedentary lifestyle contributes to excess weight and the development of diabetes. The book “The Swedish Rules of Health” by Anders Hansen and Carl Johan Sundberg describes methods that can reduce the risk of developing these and other dangerous diseases.

The book is based on the latest medical research on the effects of physical activity on the human body. The authors tell you how you can apply these results to your own life.

With the permission of the Potpourri publishing house, we are publishing an excerpt from the first part, “Golden Half an Hour.”

Illustration: Book “Swedish Health Rules”

You know very well that a person needs to move. This is necessary not only to maintain normal body weight, but also for good health. You may not fully understand the importance of physical activity in achieving extraordinary health results.

Treatment methods that should help in healing a particular disease do not always meet our expectations. Physical activity is the only pleasant exception. Scientific research has clearly shown that regular exercise is nothing more than a miraculous medical procedure that prevents a number of diseases, as well as slowing down the aging process. Although most people know that they need to move, many do not, despite the fact that sometimes light physical activity like a half-hour brisk walk is quite enough. Studies show that half the population of Europe moves too little, the same situation is observed in the United States, and if we assess the situation globally, then about a third of the world's population does not move enough. We would really like to change this situation. The more you become aware of the benefits of physical activity, the more willing you will be to move.

Scientific research has clearly shown that regular exercise is nothing more than a miraculous medical procedure that prevents a number of diseases.

A sedentary lifestyle kills

A daily thirty-minute brisk walk may seem too simple and therefore ineffective. Indeed, this is only part of the truth. There is one more thing that should not be forgotten. This is the need to avoid idle sitting. Sitting most of the day increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and premature death, regardless of our level of physical activity. As strange as it may sound, if you exercise for an hour every day and then come home and sit on the couch where you spend the rest of the day, you are putting your health at risk.

A sedentary lifestyle contributes to excess weight and the development of diabetes.

If the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle have been known for a long time, then only the results of recent scientific studies have shown how dangerous it is. An extensive study involving more than 220,000 people over several years found that those who sit for most of the day have a significantly increased risk of serious illness and premature death.

Of course, most people try to drive away the idea that this concerns them specifically, convincing themselves that the subjects were either elderly or already suffered from these diseases, which led to death. Study participants were over 45 years old. Most of them considered themselves healthy, for example, 87 percent of them rated their health as good or very good. Despite this, it turned out that those who led a predominantly sedentary lifestyle had a significantly higher risk of premature death. The more time they spent without moving, the higher the risk. If people spent at least 11 hours a day sitting, their risk of premature death was 40 percent higher than those who sat for less than four hours. However, it was difficult to determine differences in diet, exercise, or the number of cigarettes smoked that could explain these differences. Sitting for 11 hours every day may seem unnaturally long, but if you count all the time spent sitting at work, in the car, on the bus, watching TV, in front of the computer, then the result will be exactly that much.

Consequences of physical inactivity

problems . With a sedentary lifestyle, the whole body suffers. First of all, the back, or rather the spine. The load on it increases, and accordingly, blood circulation is disrupted and posture becomes distorted. As a result, all this leads to osteochondrosis and other problems that require treatment. By the way, all this is often accompanied by headaches.

Disorders of the cardiovascular system. The cardiovascular system also suffers. After all, impaired blood circulation can, for example, cause the formation of cholesterol plaques on the walls of blood vessels; people are often worried about high blood pressure. By the way, varicose veins also develop due to lack of mobility. Often, it is due to lack of movement that the following diseases appear:

• ischemic disease;
• cardiovascular failure;
• atherosclerosis, etc.

Obesity. Here, too, everything is logical - the less we move, the longer the calories burn out. At the same time, the metabolism slows down, and fat is gradually deposited in problem areas, causing excess weight. This, by the way, is often accompanied by the following diseases:

• heart and vascular diseases;
• diabetes;
• pathology of bone tissue;
• mental disorders.

Decreased muscle tone. I don’t even want to imagine what happens to the muscles and bones. They become weak and fragile. A person gradually loses the ability to move normally: joint pain appears, the spine becomes bent, arthritis, rheumatism, etc. occur.

problems . The intestines stop functioning normally, constipation and other unpleasant diseases occur, such as hemorrhoids. Coping with these problems can be difficult, as they often become chronic.

Mental disorders. As we know, what we do affects our mental state. So a sedentary lifestyle leads to the weakening of the human psyche. Insecurity and even disgust towards one’s own body appear. All this is accompanied by a lack of positive emotions. As a result, depression develops, anxiety appears, and memory deteriorates.

pexels.com

Premature aging. Yes, yes, and lifestyle is to blame here. Physical activity can prolong youth due to the fact that it improves the functioning of many organs. Plus, there is a release of negative emotions, which also affect the appearance of wrinkles. If we touch on theory, we need to talk about telomeres. They are located at the ends of human chromosomes and shorten with age. If there is little movement in life, then telomeres shorten faster. This leads to the appearance of signs of old age.

Why can a sofa be so dangerous?

A sedentary lifestyle increases the risk of being overweight and developing diabetes. But is this factor alone the main cause of illness and death? It's safe to say no. Indeed, prolonged sitting increases the likelihood of excess weight and diabetes, but is not the only predisposing factor. A health problem in this situation may be caused by the enzyme lipoprotein lipase (LPL), which breaks down fats and thus regulates their levels.

High levels of fats in the blood increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. If you move, LPL is activated and breaks down fats, and if you are at rest, the enzyme is inactive. Unfortunately, the study does not answer the question of exactly how much we should move in order for lipoprotein lipase to be constantly active. But we know that during periods of muscle activity, proteins called myokines are formed in the body. They seem to provide a connection between the muscles and the body. Myokines affect not only blood sugar and fat levels, but also the distribution of fats throughout the body. If you don't move, these substances aren't produced.

Diseases from inactivity

With insufficient physical activity, a malfunction occurs in the functioning of the entire body, as well as its individual organs. All calories that were consumed with food throughout the day must be absorbed and toxins removed.

When a person does not move enough, this rule does not apply, since there is no need to expend energy. In this case, the metabolism is disrupted. Excessive amounts of harmful substances accumulated by the body are not removed from it, which causes a clear deterioration in well-being.

Bad feeling

Most of those who have had to deal with insufficient physical activity, sooner or later may feel:

• significant decrease in spinal flexibility;
• apathy, depression;
• hands and feet begin to go numb and cold;
• difficulty falling asleep in the evening and waking up in the morning;
• soreness;
• lethargy, constant fatigue.

Diseases

The consequences could be even more dire. As a result of the conditions mentioned above, diseases such as:

• Osteochondrosis and scoliosis. These diseases develop due to insufficient load on the spine. Since the joints do not move, salt deposits occur in them, which can block normal blood circulation.
• Obesity. Eating should not be followed by physical activity. Consequently, a sedentary lifestyle causes the accumulation of unused resources in the body, which accumulate in the form of fat deposits.
• Constipation. A sitting position is unnatural for our body. A long stay in this state negatively affects the intestines, peristalsis is disrupted and constipation occurs. If this happens, then in addition to physical activity, you also need to undergo an appropriate examination by a specialized doctor to restore your normal state.
• Constant headache. Significant overstrain of the cervical spine is its main cause.
• Phlebeurysm. Many people have noticed how their lower extremities hurt after a working day spent in a sedentary position. This happens due to stagnation of venous blood. Over time, the tone of the vein walls weakens.
• Problems with the reproductive system. For both men and women, sitting for long periods of time has a negative impact on the reproductive system. The reason is stagnation of blood in the pelvic area. According to statistics, it is for this reason that the number of infertility diagnoses has increased significantly.

But what to do if you can’t give up this lifestyle completely? How to minimize the harm of working at a computer or activities that require sitting? Everything is very simple! We must minimize its negative consequences. And the best way out of this situation will be regular physical exercise.

A short leg warm-up is enough

How can you avoid the negative consequences of a sedentary lifestyle if you work in an office? After all, you can’t walk around and disturb your colleagues all the time. Don't worry, we have the answer: all it takes is one minute and a little muscle movement (like stretching your legs) to trigger the production of myokines and activate lipoprotein lipase.

To avoid the dangers associated with a sedentary lifestyle, it is enough to stretch your legs a little from time to time.

To prevent the negative consequences of a sedentary lifestyle, you need to periodically stretch your legs. By the way, this will help normalize blood sugar and fat levels. How can this be done in practice? Take the stairs instead of the elevator. If possible, invite business partners or colleagues to hold meetings as walks.

If you don't feel like stretching your legs or solving problems while walking, then at least get up and work while standing for a while. Even this can seriously affect your health. You've probably heard about this many times, but in the context of the research that clearly shows that a sedentary lifestyle is dangerous, these instructions will take on a new meaning for you, and very little is needed to reduce the risks. Small steps produce big results. Do the following:

• stretch your legs as often as possible; • if you work in an office, try standing at least part of the working day; • try to reduce the time spent in front of the TV or computer.

Photo: Book “Swedish Health Rules”

How to lose weight with a sedentary lifestyle and stay healthy

Even if you clearly understand what a sedentary lifestyle is, you are unlikely to be able to get even with it from the start, once and for all. Few people would agree to quit a well-paid, much less a promising job because they have to spend eight hours at a desk. At the same time, getting to work on foot, especially for residents of large cities, is not possible in the majority of cases. So what can you do to minimize the harm from a sedentary lifestyle? There is definitely no need to fall into despair, but it is better to listen to useful advice and recommendations.

More movement: physical education will help

Choose the opportunity and time to play sports, there is no other choice. Adjust them in such a way that they do not interfere with your work, and most importantly, do not put them on the back burner. It is not necessary to sign up for a gym and go there five times a week, because such a routine is not available to everyone. You can exercise on your own at home, start jogging in the morning, or purchase a home exercise machine.

In addition, industrial gymnastics at work with a sedentary lifestyle helps to cope with the problem perfectly. It will allow you not only to restore your own physical shape, improve your health and prevent possible illnesses, but also to involve colleagues in the process who also need help.

Sit correctly or work standing

Doctors believe that a sitting position is generally unnatural for humans. Thousands of years of evolution have adapted our body to either lie down or run and walk in search of food. As a last resort, we can stand, but sitting is not recommended. The spine, as well as the muscular corset, are poorly adapted to support the body in an upright position, and all internal organs are compressed and suffer when sitting.

• Clearly control the time you sit continuously, this is very important. You can sit in a row for no more than 2-3 hours, it is better to make a smaller choice. After this, you need to get up and do gymnastics. At work, you can just walk around the office, and at home play with your children or pets. Even this will be enough to weaken the negative effect.
• During lunch, go outside the office and walk at least a short distance. At home, it’s also a good idea to go for a walk regularly. If this is not possible, you can even walk around at your desk or TV.
• There is a good method to force yourself to walk around the house if you are not alone. Make it a rule never to call anyone, but to come on your own to communicate what is needed. For example, do not shout from the kitchen to your child that it is time to eat, but go to the nursery yourself.
• While sitting, always watch your posture, place your hands correctly when typing on the keyboard, and control your movements. You can’t put your foot under you, but taking a small bench is quite acceptable. Nowadays, special ergonomic “chairs” have been developed that allow half-standing work at the table. If possible, buy yourself something similar.

Doing athletics, fitness, running regularly or going to the gym only makes sense if you don't sit for more than four or five hours at a time. If you continue to sit all day long, the effect of training will be completely neutralized and you will not receive any benefit. This does not mean that you need to give up sports, but only that you should think about the correctness of your “sitting”.

Proper nutrition

In order not to gain excess weight with a sedentary lifestyle, you will have to not only ensure physical activity, but also adjust your diet. When you are inactive, your body burns fewer calories and therefore needs less nutrition to function properly.

• Strict dietary restrictions are not suitable for people who exercise little. Therefore, diets of this type should be postponed until better times. You already suffer from a slow metabolism and low activity, so removing nutrients from your diet will only worsen the situation.
• Create a personalized nutrition plan, routine and routine. This will allow you not only to receive everything necessary for the functioning of all life-support systems, but also to plan your working time more competently. Moreover, it will discipline you and allow you to make time for physical activity.
• Reduce portions while increasing the number of meals. At work, this can be realized with the help of healthy snacks to overcome the false feeling of hunger.
• Eliminating harmful “goodies” will make your diet more healthy. Avoid fast food, baked goods, excessive amounts of sweets, smoked foods, and eliminate fatty foods. All this does not bring any benefit, but is harmful to health.

If you work full time, always eat breakfast at home. Morning meals are important for starting metabolic processes. Drinking tea with colleagues does not qualify as a breakfast, and it is better to completely remove buns, cookies, and cakes from your diet.

Routine and sleep

Enough has already been said and written about the benefits of a clear daily routine and adherence to the regime. We will not repeat ourselves, we will only note that clear control over your time will allow you to allocate more free time. This way you can find time to really take care of your health, go to the gym or just do gymnastics.

It is important to maintain a sleep schedule. A healthy adult needs proper rest, otherwise you will constantly feel drowsy, tired, and weak. Learn to go to bed no later than ten in the evening, so that it will be easier to get up in the morning, feeling rested.

Rejection of bad habits

Alcohol, smoking and other negative attachments cannot bring any benefit to the body. There is a misconception that if you quit smoking, you will immediately gain excess weight. However, in reality, with proper diet planning and sufficient physical activity, this will not happen. You can read how to quit smoking while minimizing the difficulties of the process in a separate material on our website.

Wellness treatments

Even if you are not overweight yet, you should not refuse general strengthening procedures and health improvement. But what will be useful for those who spend most of their lives at a desk, computer or in a car?

• Massage . There are many types of this useful procedure, you can try them all or choose something to suit your taste. All this will provide organs and tissues with blood flow, therefore, nutrition with nutrients and oxygen.
• Swimming . Sign up for a swimming pool, it brings a lot of benefits. This will give you the opportunity to lose weight and maintain physical fitness, and at the same time train your heart muscle. You can swim in the nearest lake or river, but this method is limited to the summer, and you need to be healthy all year round.
• Stretching . Exercises to increase the mobility of ligaments and joints will help you maintain youth much longer and avoid accidental injuries and sprains.
• Cold and hot shower. It was not for nothing that our ancestors regularly practiced jumping into a lake or a snowdrift after a bath, and many still love such fun. Pouring hot and cold water has serious advantages; they help you lose weight and keep your body in good shape.

All health procedures must be performed wisely. First, you should go to your doctor, get tested and undergo tests to be completely sure that there are no serious medical contraindications.

Walks and active hobbies

Sports are not for everyone, so you can find an alternative. This will allow you not to force yourself to go to the gym at the allotted time, which does not bring anything good. There are a lot of options. Many people like Eastern practices, such as yoga, meditation, breathing exercises and others. Others prefer dancing. For example, a dance like Zumba is very helpful in losing excess weight even with a sedentary lifestyle.

However, if there is no opportunity to devote yourself to full-fledged training, there will definitely be a way out. You definitely need to walk more in the fresh air. Whenever possible, it is worth making forays into nature, to the river, to the forest, or at least to the nearest park. They will help not only keep fit, but also improve mood, tone, and saturate the body with oxygen.

https://youtu.be/XK5VBhg314M

Diseases associated with a sedentary lifestyle

If we talk about diseases associated with a sedentary lifestyle, then first of all we should mention obesity and diabetes. This is also associated with the risk of developing various forms of cancer. In the United States, the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle are defined as the disease of physical inactivity. In addition to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, this list also includes depression, dementia, breast and colon cancer, because the likelihood of their occurrence increases if a person spends a significant part of his life in a sedentary position. In the future, researchers will likely figure out why sitting is so dangerous. In essence, more important than understanding the reason for what is happening is the awareness that such a relationship exists.

Many people do work that requires sitting at a desk for long periods of time, and also spend time in front of the TV and at the computer, but at home, they go to the gym three times a week and believe that in this way they compensate for the lack of movement.

This state of affairs needs to be rethought. In addition, it should be added that intense half-hour walks are not enough. First of all, you need to avoid sitting for too long, and this can be achieved through short sessions of leg stretching, which is equivalent to physical activity. If you are an untrained person, taking a daily 30-minute walk and avoiding prolonged sitting can significantly improve your health.

TV can steal five years of your life

In 2014, a study was conducted to study the TV viewing habits of Australians.

It turned out that adults watch TV on average two hours a day. At the same time, data regarding the medical history of the study subjects was collected. The study found that two hours in front of the TV shortens the life of the average Australian by more than a year and a half.

Those who watched television six hours a day lived five years less than people who did not watch it at all. You can ask yourself the question: who sits in front of the TV for six hours? There aren't many such people in Australia, but the average American spends about five hours watching TV every day. If we combine the time spent in front of the TV and at the computer, then a significant percentage of Swedes can be included in this group. For those who would like to get a clearer picture of the cost of watching TV, scientists have calculated that for every hour spent watching TV, your life is shortened by 22 minutes. Naturally, this does not mean that you need to stop watching it completely. We don’t want to scare anyone or encourage them to live in constant nervous tension. However, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with statistical data; this will help you understand the importance of movement in our lives.

Small steps do wonders for your body weight too!

Body weight is not a sufficient indicator of the level of effectiveness of health training, but special attention is still paid to it. Therefore, it is necessary to understand that even short physical warm-ups not only protect against diseases, but also work wonders on weight. Let's see if we can correlate these physical workouts with the kilograms and grams of excess weight that we can get rid of. So, lying or sitting we burn about 1 kcal per minute. When standing, we get rid of a little more - up to 4-5 kcal per minute. Climbing the stairs is a real revolution: the amount of energy expended will increase tenfold when compared to sitting.

Every hour spent watching TV shortens your life by 22 minutes.

10 kcal of energy expended corresponds to the loss of 1 gram of adipose tissue. If you increase your physical activity and spend 100 kcal (this could be a 20-minute walk), 10 grams of fat tissue disappears accordingly. It may not seem like much, but over time, small steps add up to big results. Let's say, if you are going to work or returning home, you can get off the bus one stop earlier and walk the remaining 500 meters. You don't have to use the elevator when going up to the fourth floor or going down the stairs. And here's the result: you'll burn about 50 kcal while walking, plus 18 kcal when walking up the stairs, for a total of about 70 kcal, which corresponds to a loss of 7 grams of fat daily. If these actions become your habit, then in a month you can get rid of 150 grams of fat, and in a year more than 2 kilograms. If at work you spend an additional hour standing and at least one business meeting in the form of a walk, you should lose more than three kilograms of fat in a year, and all this without even having to go near the gym and put on running shoes. Compared to other recommendations regarding weight loss, this looks quite advantageous. If you want to get rid of extra pounds, make sure to start moving a little more than usual, and also not increase the amount of food you consume, because the body tries to force you to compensate for the loss of energy through hunger.

If you want to lose weight more intensely through exercise, we'll return to these questions in the section on fat burning and intense interval training.

Photo: Book “Swedish Health Rules”

Morris and the bus drivers

It has long been known that even mild physical activity, such as walking or simply standing, is beneficial. Even 2,400 years ago, Hippocrates warned against excessive sitting and emphasized that any movement for the body is of great importance. Already in our times, in the middle of the twentieth century, the Scottish scientist Jeremy Morris pointed out that sitting poses a threat to health. In a study of London bus drivers and conductors, he found that seated drivers had twice the risk of a heart attack compared with conductors. In addition, heart attacks among drivers were more extensive and serious and, compared to conductors, were twice as likely to result in death. The scientist observed a similar picture among postmen: those who sat at a desk in the office got sick more often than those who rode a bicycle or delivered mail on foot. Morris was a pioneer in studying the influence of physical activity on susceptibility to disease, and the results of his work are still relevant today. He took his research seriously and subsequently began to adhere to certain rules regarding physical activity. Even at the age of 90, Jeremy Morris practiced walking, cycling, and swimming at least 30 minutes a day. He died several years ago, a couple of months before his hundredth birthday.

Everyone can stand up for at least a minute, even those who don’t like to make unnecessary movements.

What problems does a sedentary lifestyle cause?

Weight gain

Movement causes your body's tissues to produce the enzyme lipoprotein lipase, which controls the amount of lipids in the blood and helps process fats and sugars absorbed in food. A sedentary lifestyle leads to a lack of this enzyme, which negatively affects Suppression of skeletal muscle lipoprotein lipase activity during physical inactivity: a molecular reason to maintain daily low-intensity activity on the body's ability to burn fat. And as a result, you start to gain weight.

Prolonged sitting increases Definition of Metabolic Syndrome: Report of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/American Heart Association Conference on Scientific Issues Related to Definition risk of metabolic syndrome. This especially affects Metabolic Responses to Reduced Daily Steps in Healthy Nonexercising Men on people who not only sit for long periods of time, but also do not exercise.

However, even people who are far from sports can Nonexercise activity thermogenesis in obesity management burn extra calories when they walk, stand, or even fidget, but do not sit still. Therefore, if you have the opportunity to just get up and walk during the working day, then at least do it.

Risk of early death

Observations of the health status of about one million subjects showed that people who sit a lot are more likely to die at an early age. In fact, the risk of early death increases among those with a sedentary lifestyle Sedentary Time and Its Association With Risk for Disease Incidence, Mortality, and Hospitalization in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta‑analysis, Sitting time and all‑cause mortality risk in 222,497 Australian adults per 22–49%.

The World Health Organization reports to the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health that lack of physical activity causes 6% of deaths worldwide. According to WHO, a sedentary lifestyle is the main cause of approximately 21–25% of breast and colon cancers, 27% of diabetes cases and approximately 30% of coronary heart disease cases.

Diabetes and heart disease

Researchers associate Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death: systematic review and meta‑analysis of a sedentary lifestyle with almost 30 chronic diseases. In particular, sitting for long periods of time increases Sedentary Behaviors Increase Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Mortality in Men the risk of developing heart disease. In addition, if you sit for a long time and walk less than 1,500 steps per day, the body increases A 2‑wk reduction of ambulatory activity attenuates peripheral insulin sensitivity, Effects of 1 day of inactivity on insulin action in healthy men and women: interaction with energy intake insulin resistance, and this is Physical Inactivity Rapidly Induces Insulin Resistance and Microvascular Dysfunction in Healthy Volunteers the main cause of type 2 diabetes.

Pain in bones and muscles

If you sit in an uncomfortable chair for a long time, you are probably already familiar with back and neck pain. Lack of physical activity negatively affects the Key Role of the Blood Supply to Bone on the bones of the spine and back muscles, and this leads National Health Statistics Reports to chronic pain that makes it difficult to move later.

The result is a vicious circle: your muscles hurt because you don’t move enough, and you don’t move enough because your muscles hurt.

Depression and anxiety

Researchers have linked prolonged sitting to the development of depression and anxiety. According to The impact of sitting time and physical activity on major depressive disorder in South Korean adults: a cross-sectional study of specialists from South Korea, people who sit for 8–10 hours a day are more likely to develop major depressive disorder compared to those who spend only 5 hours in this position. And according to Sitting-time, physical activity, and depressive symptoms in mid-aged women, Non-occupational sitting and mental well-being in employed adults, the chances of depression with an inactive lifestyle triple.

In addition, lack of physical activity leads to increased stress. Employees who are engaged in sedentary work for more than 6 hours a day become overexerted faster and have a harder time enduring unpleasant situations.

Marathon running while standing

You can always find an opportunity to stand up for at least a minute. If you work at a computer, standing for at least an hour during the workday can burn 60 calories, further reducing the health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle. Don't you think this result is too impressive? Over the course of a five-day working week, this amount increases to 300 kcal, over the course of a year to 10 thousand kcal, and this is the same amount as consumed during three marathon races.

Table: Book “Swedish Health Rules”