Fitness Friday

Sitting Too Much Now Will Keep You In Your Seat Later

With computer time and binge watching TV shows at an all time high, being sedentary for too long is a legitimate health scare and problem. A recent study researched the long lasting effects that sedentary behavior has on older populations. 

Technology has been a blessing in so many ways, making much of our lives easier from being able to complete menial tasks at blazing speed, to being able to compute huge algorithms in a few seconds where it would've taken days to months before in the workplace. While it has made our lives much easier, it has made our lives possibly a little too easy while making our health a little worse-off. Our need to continue to sit at the computer for work and the lack of commercials in binge watching TV shows has led to an increase in sedentary lifestyles. Even light activities such as going to the store, or getting up to talk with co-workers have been replaced with online shopping and emailing. The researchers at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University have found looked into the relationship between the amount of sedentary time spent by a person and the likelihood that they would develop a walking disability later in life.

The researchers looked at two studies that encompassed people aged 50-71 years-old over a period of 8-10 years (mid-1990's to mid-2000's). The study asked how long people exercised and how long they were sedentary. The results found that people who were sedentary for five or more hours a day were at a 65% increased risk for developing a mobility disability at the end of the study, compared to those who were sedentary for 2 or fewer hours a day. With sedentary time most likely increasing since 2005 due to the mass increase in technology and subscriptions such as Netflix and Hulu that cut out commercials, getting up and exercising when possible is more important than ever.