“Finding ways to stay mobile is important,” says Dr. Kevin Witt of IU Health in Fort Wayne. “You don’t need to run a marathon or lift weights at the gym for an hour, but you need to find creative ways to keep your body moving, especially if you have a sedentary job or lifestyle.”
As family medicine physicians, both Dr. Witt and his colleague, Dr. Garrett Bastin, agree the catch phrase, “Sitting is the new smoking” is something to take seriously.
“In general, sitting for a long period of time can lead to a lot of health problems, most significantly obesity, heart disease, diabetes and, of course, chronic neck and back pain along with poor circulation. All of these can be made worse by periods of prolonged sitting,” says Dr. Bastin.
With the vast majority of the American workforce having jobs that require sitting at a desk for the bulk of the day, it can be a frustrating situation. While sitting by itself is not necessarily a bad thing, regularly sitting for hours on end can lead to the health issues mentioned by Dr. Bastin.
“The good thing is that even small changes like standing, stretching or walking for a couple minutes every half-hour can make a big difference,” says Dr. Bastin. “Focus on splitting it up so you have short periods of sitting with lots of breaks to do the standing, walking or stretching.”
Dr. Bastin suggests looking for any excuse to move. Instead of emailing a co-worker down the hallway, walk to that person’s office and deliver the message in person, or take the stairs instead of always riding in the elevator.
While sitting all day isn’t good for anyone, it’s especially dangerous for men.
“Men have a naturally higher risk for cardiovascular disease and there’s a lot of evidence about some metabolic reasons why sitting can increase risk for heart disease,” says Dr. Witt. “With heart disease, it’s not just one thing that indicates risk — it’s layers of several things that combine and give you varying levels of risk. Diabetes, for example, is a very strong heart disease risk factor and that tends to be linked to a more sedentary lifestyle. Smoking can also increase the risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and cholesterol problems.”
Dr. Witt says there are some things that happen biochemically in muscles when they are less active that can lead to changes in lipid metabolism.
“Based on some molecular tests looking at muscle inactivity versus activity, there’s an enzyme called Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) that’s involved in lipid metabolism level of the muscle. You actually get increased LPL activity with muscle activity and that helps raise HDL, the good cholesterol, while lowering triglycerides. That helps to lower the risk for heart disease.”
Even though women don’t statistically see the same degree of heart disease as men, a sedentary lifestyle is equally concerning for them. And both doctors say post-menopausal women tend to have a harder time losing weight compared to men and are more prone to gaining weight from excessive sitting.
“I’m not trying to scare anyone, but for both men and women, it’s always easier to implement small changes and take preventative measures before something really bad happens, like a heart attack or losing a limb as a result of diabetes complications,” says Dr. Witt. “Once you have a heart attack, you have to go to cardiac rehab and your ability to exercise is reduced just like the patient who has to have a limb amputated. People can live for years with a sedentary lifestyle and not notice anything wrong until it’s too late. That’s another reason why regular checkups with your doctor are important.”
Dr. Bastin says in addition to health issues, his older patients who sit a lot will notice increased neck and back pain.
“They also say the pain tends to linger longer as they get older. Younger people have a higher chance of being active and stretching more than older people, which helps to offset some of the musculoskeletal problems that develop from too much sitting.”
If committing to a regular exercise regime doesn’t work for patients, Dr. Witt recommends doing simple exercises while on the job.
“You could do five squats next to your desk or even some push-ups every hour just to activate your muscles. I wear an Apple® watch that alerts me every hour if I haven’t moved and it gives me a 10-minute warning before the top of the hour. These are all really easy ways to make a difference in your long-term health.”
