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• What you can do to stay healthy at home, office
By Cosmas Omegoh
Not minding the quantum of information out there on sedentary living, more and more Nigerians may be falling among the growing population often sitting or lying down.
Anyone might be in that number depending on what they do, and the challenge they now face as they struggle to survive.
Most people for instance do loads of clerical jobs that see them sitting for a long time week in week out, working on documents and with the computer.
Now, here are some of those scenarios. Mrs Kemi Awosika, aka Iya Femi is one of such persons sitting down much of the time, and can hardly avoid doing that. She is a big time dealer in fabrics, with her outfit on Lagos Island, Lagos.
Every morning, Mrs Awosika arrives on the island, shortly before mid morning; she takes a few strides to her retail outlet located in the heart of the popular Balogun Market. She takes her seat at a corner of her crowded shop and sinks into a half-upholstered seat from where she coordinates the daily sales, only getting up to visit the lady’s or to attend to some pressing matters.
At sunset, she returns to her home on mainland Surulere. This, she has been doing over the past two decades and more.
And now, Mrs Awosika has put on a lot of weight. At parties, she waddles through with lots of swagger, receiving applause and approval from friends and admirers.
Now, Mr Jimmy Johnson is another case to consider. He is an estate executive – a very successful one at that. Once he gets to his office, he proceeds with meetings after meetings with his staff – including those managing his other subsidiaries; thereafter he goes on to coordinate his chain of activities, holding long Zoom meetings with his clients, and associates.
Mr Johnson hardly has time for himself. Oftentimes, he requests that files be brought to him at home so that he would have time to grub through them. He is always eager to see his business standing on sure footings. He brooks no excuses, and doesn’t take no as the answer.
What is sedentary life?
According to Wikipedia, anyone who sits down for long hours lives a sedentary life. It goes on to define sedentary behaviour as “any waking behaviour characterised by an energy expenditure less than or equal to 1.5 metabolic equivalent (METs), while in a sitting, reclining or lying posture.”
It adds that “spending most waking hours sitting does not necessarily mean that an individual is sedentary, though sitting and lying down most frequently are sedentary behaviours.”
Offering more insight, WHO quotes Esmonde-White defining sedentary life as “a lifestyle that involves longer than six hours a day of sedentary behaviour.”
MedlinePlus, a health information platform on its part puts sedentary life more succinctly: “A lifestyle with a lot of sitting and lying down, with very little to no exercise.”
The outfit laments that around the world, including Nigeria, “people are spending more and more time doing sedentary activities,” stating that “we are often sitting – while using a computer or other device, watching TV, or playing video games. Many of our jobs have become more sedentary, with long days sitting at a desk. The way most of us get around involves sitting – in cars, on buses, and on trains.”
Shocking revelation about sedentary life
USA Veins Clinic in its website reveals that “the average person spends a whopping 12 hours a day sitting. Let that sink in for a minute. The average person spends half the day sitting. While that probably makes you feel as if you’re wasting a lot of your time, what’s even worse are the negative health effects that result from sitting that much. Do you find yourself wondering ‘can sitting too often cause health problems?”
Impact of sedentary living
WHO in its regular warning maintains that “physical inactivity can have serious implications for people’s health,” reporting that “approximately two million deaths per year are attributed to physical inactivity.”
That prompted the organisation to say that “a sedentary lifestyle could very well be among the 10 leading causes of death and disability in the world.”
WHO insists that “sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, and increase the risks of colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders, depression and anxiety.”
It goes on to lament that “60 to 85 per cent of people in the world – from both developed and developing countries – lead sedentary lifestyles, making it one of the more serious yet insufficiently addressed public health problems of our time.”
WHO fears that “it is estimated that nearly two-thirds of children are also insufficiently active, with serious implications for their future health.”
How sitting down affects you
The American Heart Association (AHA) in one of its reports has it that “sedentary jobs have increased 83 percent since 1950,” regretting that “all of that inactivity is taking a toll on health.”
Quoting Johns Hopkins cardiologist, Erin Michos, an associate director of preventive cardiology at the Ciccarone Center for the prevention of Heart Diseases, AHA shares research about the dangers of sitting and what one can do about it.
AHA cites research findings by Michos that sitting for long periods was associated with worse health outcomes including heart disease, Type 2 diabetics and cancer. Sedentary behavior can also increase risk of dying, either from heart disease or other medical problems.”
It further quotes Michos as saying “even if you’re doing 30 minutes per day of physical activity, it matters what you do the other 23 hours of the day. More recent research shows that high levels of exercise can lessen some of the risk. Yet even for people with high levels of activity, there seems to be a threshold around 10 hours of sitting. Research shows that if you hit more than 10 hours, your cardiovascular risk really goes up.”
Still on the negative effects of sitting down, USA Veins Clinic in its website warns that “with as much sitting as our modern-day society partakes in, it should be no surprise that our bodies are suffering as a result.
“In fact, the term ‘sitting disease’ has recently popped up and is considered among the top unanticipated health threats of today. Sitting disease can come in the form of issues such as metabolic syndrome, or a variety of other negative effects that result from spending too much time sitting.”
Citing the effects of long sitting, it notes that you burn fewer calories, have higher chances of weight gain, risk chronic disease, and early death.
Surprisingly, it suggests that “one hour of exercise does not reverse all the sitting time.”
Then it adds: “Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Regardless of your daily exercise habit, sitting for long periods of time will lead to some health problems. While those health problems obviously increase when you’re not exercising at all, don’t think that your daily yoga classes will offset the hazards of your 11 hours of sitting for the day.
“Having an inactive lifestyle can be one of the causes of many chronic diseases. By not getting regular exercise, you raise your risk of: obesity, heart disease, including coronary artery disease and heart attack, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, certain cancers including colon, breast, and uterine cancers, osteoporosis and falls, increased feelings of depression and anxiety.”
Here, it adds more caveat: “Having a sedentary lifestyle can also raise your risk of premature death. And the more sedentary you are, the higher your health risks are.”
How to escape sedentary disease
USA Veins Clinic says, “the greatest way that you can combat the negative effects of a 12-hour sitting day is easy: simply stand every 30 minutes.”
AHA quoting Michos advises that “even if you have to be sitting in front of the computer all day, you can break up the time. You don’t have to replace sitting with time at the gym. There’s benefit to light activity during the day. For every 20 minutes of sitting, try to stand for eight minutes and move around for two minutes.
“I recommend everybody tracks their steps, with a fitness tracker, your phone or a simple pedometer. We usually recommend a target of 10,000 steps a day.
“But if you’re very sedentary, any improvement will be beneficial. If you only get 2,000 steps a day, try to aim for 4,000.
“Take baby steps. It doesn’t have to be vigorous. Just stand up and move your muscles.”
How to start exercising
For anyone who has been living a sedentary life all this while, here is a good piece of advice from USA Veins Clinic: “You have been inactive, you may need to start slowly. You can keep adding more exercise gradually. The more you can do, the better. But try not to feel overwhelmed, and do what you can. Getting some exercise is always better than getting none. Eventually, your goal can be to get the recommended amount of exercise for your age and health.
“You can also try to add (an) activity to your life in smaller ways, such as at home and at work.”
How to be more active at home and office
USA Veins Clinic offers more useful tips on how one can be active around the home and office. It says: “There are some ways you can be active around your house: housework, gardening, and yard work are all physical work. To increase the intensity, you can try doing them at a more vigorous pace.
“Lift hand weights; do some gentle yoga stretches, or pedal an exercise bike. Instead of using the TV remote, get up and change the channels yourself.
“Go for a walk in your neighbourhood. It can be more fun if you walk your dog, walk your kids to school, or walk with a friend. Stand up when talking on the phone. Get some exercise equipment for your home. Treadmills and elliptical trainers are great, but not everyone has the money or space for one.”
While in the office, “get up from your chair and move around at least once an hour; stand when you are talking on the phone. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Use your break or part of your lunch hour to walk around the building. Stand up and walk to a colleague’s office instead of sending an email. Have ‘walking or standing meetings with co-workers instead of sitting in a conference room.”
