The Price of Sitting: Is It Worth It?
If you are a runner you have likely been told at many a family gathering, “you shouldn’t run! Running’s bad for your knees.” If you’re a weightlifter, you hear that “squatting is bad for your knees.” Tennis players hear about the risks to their elbows, the list goes on! So, what is the most high-risk leisure time activity and should we avoid it?
The answer? SITTING.
I hear you! To call sitting a leisure time ACTIVITY seems oxymoronic, but the point is that sitting is something we DO with our time.
Physical inactivity is one of the leading behavioral causes of death in the United States, second only to smoking. About 610,000, or 1 in every 4 people, die annually from cardiovascular disease, which is caused by too little physical activity and a poor diet.
Inactive verses Sedentary
To be clear- physical inactivity and sedentariness are related, but they have a unique influence on health. Sedentary behavior is defined as extended periods of time where your energy expenditure is close to your resting rate. Someone who is inactive does less than 150 minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity per week. Thus, you can be active and sedentary, often called an “active couch potato.” For example, you might go on a 30-minute run in the morning and then sit for eight hours at work in front of a screen, sit on your commute home, and then sit in front of the TV all evening.
Costs of Sitting
Sedentariness is a unique risk factor, independent of physical inactivity, and has been shown to have important effects on health. Excessive sedentary time raises risk for metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality. These risks are largely independent of physical activity behaviors. Furthermore, too much sedentary time may increase depression, anxiety, and fatigue and lower levels of emotional well-being and energy.
Injuries During Activity
In order to answer uncle Bernie at Christmas, let’s address his question as to whether running and squatting really are bad for your knees. You can tell Bernie, that the research says NO. Instead, running, weightlifting, and other modes of physical activity improve:
• Muscular strength, power, endurance, and flexibility
• Bone mineral density
• Growth of connective tissue (tendon, ligament, fascia)
Research shows that strenuous exercise does not appear to cause degenerative joint disease.
The Risks
Of course, people can become injured when exercising. Just like people can become injured if they trip and fall on their walk to the mailbox. Interestingly, people who exercise have lower risk for injury than people who do not exercise. Exercise increases strength, endurance, flexibility, and bone and joint health which are each important in prevention of injuries.
Furthermore, when people say that running caused them knee problems, I wonder how they know that they would have had healthy knees if they would not have been running. Maybe their knee problems would have been worse had they not been running.
Practical Recommendations
In addition to increasing exercise time, the following are strategies to reduce sedentary behaviors:
• Engage in an activity during TV commercials
• Go on family walks after dinner
• Take the stairs instead of escalators
• Make chores active (e.g. dance while you dust, stand while you fold laundry)
• Use a standing desk
Are the costs and long-term consequences acceptable to you?
There are costs and benefits of both exercise and sitting. What you have to decide is—what is costlier to you? At the very least, you can tell Uncle Bernie that while running may not be the preferred mode of exercise for everyone, there is indisputable evidence that sitting is bad for his heart. 🙂
Thanks for reading! 🙂
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References:
Haff., G. G., & Triplett, N. T. (2017). Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Nigg, C. R., & Harmon, B. (2018). The Sednetariness Epidemic– Deomographic Considerations. In S. Razon & M. L. Sachs (Eds.), Applied Exercise Psychology. (5-14). New York: Routledge.
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