Yes, we all know this– sitting is bad bad bad for us. At least that is what we are told over and over again, in loads of studies. Not just sitting, but reclining, lying down, chilling out, taking a load off. All bad. How bad? Well, here’s a partial list of health outcomes that have been found to be associated with what’s called sedentary behavior:
- heart disease
- high blood pressure
- high cholesterol
- stroke
- metabolic syndrome
- type 2 diabetes
- some cancers
- vascular problems
- musculoskeletal pain
- osteoporosis
- depression, anxiety
- cognitive decline
- dementia
And now, according to this study, we can add to that list “shrunken brain”. Here are the deets:
A team of researchers examined the relationship between sedentary behavior and neurodegeneration among 404 adults age 50 and older.
Study participants wore a watch that measured their activity continuously over the span of a week. Their sedentary time was then related to their cognitive performance and brain scans captured over a seven-year follow-up period.
Participants who spent more time sedentary were more likely to experience cognitive decline and neurodegenerative changes [shrunken hippocampus] regardless of how much they exercised.
“Reducing your risk for Alzheimer’s disease is not just about working out once a day,” said Gogniat. “Minimizing the time spent sitting, even if you do exercise daily, reduces the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”
Great. I guess I might as well accept that this is my future:
In case you’re wondering why and how being sedentary is killing us, I looked it up: human metabolism in all its functions gets gummed up when we are still too long and too often. From carbohydrate and lipid (fat) metabolic dysfunction, to inflammation, to decreased cardiac output to activation of the sympathetic nervous system (and much much more), sedentary behaviors give rise to these adverse processes, while even light physical activity (e.g. washing dishes) doesn’t trigger them (or something– human metabolic science is complicated and I’m not an expert on this). The take-home message here is clearly illustrated in this fancy medical overview article:
Four things that are bad for us: playing video games, watching TV, computer use, and reading a book (while lying down). Two things that are good for us: riding a bike, and running.
Yes, we all knew that. And the dozens of medical studies measuring all those adverse effects from the time we spend being inactive all offer suggestions to counteract those effects:
Move. Move more. Move more often. Move more vigorously when you can. Keep it moving, folks. You got to move it move it. (Warning: I linked to one of my favorite youtube videos– that song from Madagascar, “I like to move it move it”. I never get tired of it.)
Right. But the researchers in this most recent study pointed out that even for folks who exercise regularly and those who meet the CDC guidelines for 150 minutes a week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (plus strength training), they still need to up their at-home game by sitting less in the course of their day. How is that supposed to happen? What else are we supposed to do?
One idea is to change the environment: use standing desks, treadmill desks, or move things you normally use so they are further away (e.g. one site suggests putting your wastebasket far away from your desk). Other sorts of suggestions include setting timers to stand up regularly, and incorporate standing or pacing or walking into activities like talking on the phone, attending work meetings, etc. I do frequently park far away from places I’m going so I’ll get more steps in. So yes, some people manage to use some of these strategies sometimes.
But let’s be honest– it’s hard to change our habits in such basic physical ways. Personally, I’ve never been able to read a book while riding a spin bike or even walking on a treadmill. Walking while having a work meeting seems very distracting and also impractical– how can I walk, talk, and also take notes on my laptop at the same time?
If everyone lived in communities near friends, families, jobs, schools, recreation and religious and art facilities and local shops, and had systems in place to make moving between these places easy for everyone throughout our life trajectories, we would on balance be much less sedentary during our waking and non-exercising hours. But we don’t all live in such communities. Very few of us do.
And, our governments don’t generally prioritize this kind of living with overall public health and well-being in mind. But they could. Researchers across disciplines have studied so-called “Blue Zones”, where demographers have found that residents live longer, are more healthy and report significant well-being. How does it work? Working with a combination of factors ranging from urban planning and transportation to food production and distribution to health care to local diet customs. There are dozens of ways we can work with others to make our micro-environments more movement and interaction-friendly. We will also need help and coordination at the local, state and national levels.
So, how to become less sedentary? We can certainly look for opportunities to move our bodies in the varied ways they can during our day. But I think it’s even more important to take a stand for changing how our communities and nations operate to make them more accessible and friendly to everyone, not just those who can manage to read a book and walk on a treadmill at the same time.
Denser, walkable communities make so much sense – for the environment, for biodiversity, and for our physical and mental health.