Sitting At Your Desk For Long Periods is a Danger to Your Health
You might consider this advice somewhat obvious, but sitting at your desk is not good for your health. What you might not have realized, though, is just how bad it actually is.
I've got the scoop on the dangers of being deskbound all day, and some things you can do about it.
The New York Times recently reported that no matter how much you exercise in the morning, sitting at a desk all day puts yourself at "increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and an early death." To put it bluntly.
Several studies show that if you spend a lot of time sitting on the job, you are far more likely to have larger waists and worse blood pressure and blood sugar than those who sit less. The danger is real, and insidious -- weight gain happens slowly but inexorably, and your body metabolism changes for the worse if you sit a lot, whether or not you exercise vigorously once a day.
So what can you do? Here are a few things that will help you live longer.
Get a standing desk. Many workplaces allow deskbound workers to upgrade to a standing workstation, and it's the single best thing you can do to combat the dangers of sitting all day.
Get up frequently. No standing desk? Then use some sort of timer to alert you to get up and do some simple exercises throughout the day. Check out Prevent Repetitive Stress Injuries with Enforced Breaks, Simple Exercises for details.
Take the stairs. Avoid the elevator. People who walk more are statistically shown to be healthier than their lazier counterparts.
How do you avoid desk lethargy? Share your advice with the class.
Photo by sun dazed
