Modern technology has taken all the hard work out of being human; hunting, gathering and struggling has been replaced with UberEats, HelloFresh and Ocado. What’s not to love about that? But evolution is taking its sweet time to catch up. In the meantime, our bodies are struggling to adjust to a more pampered existence - particularly sitting down all day. Here’s how to avoid sitting yourself to death.
Why do we sit so much?
Our bodies are beautiful machines, designed to spend most of the day running, jumping, climbing, stretching… and upright. Our brains, however, have found increasingly innovative ways to remove physical exertion from our lives. We can now get almost everything we need delivered right to us.
Have you ever stopped to consider precisely how much time you spend sitting down? We’ll bet it’s much, much more than you think! Many of us sit all day long - we sit for breakfast, on our commutes, at our desks, over lunch, in the pub and in front of the TV. That probably adds up to well over six hours of sitting a day, which is bad news - it means we are 40% more likely to die within 15 years than someone who sits for less than three hours a day.
In fact, medical experts now tell us it’s worse for our health than smoking; an Australian study found that every hour of TV watched (once you’re over 25 years old) reduces your life expectancy by 22 minutes[1], compared with the 11-minute reduction for every cigarette smoked[2].
Sound daunting? Don’t worry, we’ve got you. Here’s everything you need to know in order to shake the habit. Are you sitting comfortably?
What does science say?
According to scientists around the world, the inventor of the chair has a lot to answer for.
When sitting, our poor lower backs bear up to 90% more pressure than when standing, straining the musculoskeletal system. Sitting for more than half a workday, combined with bad posture, increases your risk of lower back pain and sciatica[3]. Blood pools in the legs, which can cause varicose veins. When at rest, your body burns fewer calories, particularly calories from fat, which can lead to weight gain - and yet more health problems. There is also speculation around the impact that sitting down has on your digestive system; it is thought to affect insulin sensitivity[4], while exercise promotes a healthy range of gut bacteria[5].
We can protect ourselves against increased risk of various cancers [6,7,8], diabetes[4], venous thromboembolism (including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism)[9] - in fact, eight out of ten of the most common causes of death[10] - by taking every opportunity to get out of our seats and move around. In fact, if you want to live a long life, research shows that the more exercise you do the, the better[11].
Now we have got the doom and gloom out of the way, here’s how to start making a positive change that will stand you in good stead for the rest of your life.
It is advisable to transition from all-day sitting to all-day standing slowly. Your body, particularly your feet, hips and calves, will thank you for allowing time to adjust.
If you have to sit, sit well
The good news is that you don’t have to avoid sitting down altogether! When you do take a seat, try to be aware of your posture. Opt for ergonomic chairs, designed for work at a desk and with the option to adjust the height as a bare minimum. Here are our tips for getting the perfect fit to suit your body:
The chair should be at the right height to allow the following all at once: feet flat on the floor, knees directly over your heels, hips positioned slightly higher than your knees.
Your back should be straight and your lower back supported - this is very important, so get a backrest if your chair does not provide adequate lower-back cushioning.
You should be able to sit with your back straight, chin not dropped to your chest, and your eyes straight ahead should meet your screen; your shoulders should not be hunched or rolled forwards.
If you need to talk on the phone, hold it in your hand not clutched in between your chin and your shoulder (please, this is terrible for your neck)
If you are between 5’8” and 5’10”, you should find that most average desks are suitable for you to hold your arms in the right position while typing, and that your arm rests fit under the desk and offer support when needed. Any shorter or taller and you may need to ensure you can adjust the height of your work surface to ensure good posture.
You may need to retrain your brain to keep up this good posture, and if you’ve been sitting badly for years it can take many months for it to become natural. Try setting half-hourly reminders (using apps like WorkRave, Stretchly, Stand Up! or DeskJob) and gradually reducing their frequency as you develop better habits. You’ll be surprised how often you cross your legs without thinking about it.
If you take gym classes or work out regularly, you can also try incorporating some of the ‘proper form’ you have learned into your day-to-day life. Lift properly, stretch often and activate your core when walking. The movements will seem surprisingly familiar even outside of the weights room (maybe avoid the temptation to lunge to work, though).
Another thing you can do to improve your posture: avoid using your laptop without a stand, mouse and keyboard. There is no posturally healthy way to type and read the screen when they are positioned so closely together. None.
Stand up for your health at work
First of all, a sit-to-stand desk could (almost literally) be a lifesaver. As you spend so much time at work, changing up your desk routine offers a quick win. You don’t have to get one of those all-singing, all-dancing electric desks that goes up and down at the touch of a button. Try the Ikea Standing Desk (£180), the table-top Yo-yo desk (£180), the portable, height-adjustable HumbleWorks Stanley (£200), or any of the many other options available. If you work from home, you could fit a folding shelf (again, Ikea have a range of options) at the right height for you.
You can also use reminders to encourage you to stretch or get out of your seat regularly. Organise stand-up meetings or team working, have walking catch-ups with your reports, and stand to read or when you take a break for refreshments. If you watch videos or listen to audiobooks at lunch, you can stand up for that, too.
Mobile phones are designed to be just that: mobile! But we can sometimes end up glued to the chair using them for hours at a time. Try using it for what it's meant for: talking on. Instead of sitting down to email or chat with clients, drop them a line while you walk around the building.
Give up your seat
Don’t wait until someone else need your seat on the tube for health reasons - give it up for your own! An added bonus is that you’ll never find yourself napping on a stranger’s shoulder again. It’s not just your commute where this works, either - if you’re flying, stretch your legs regularly, or on long car journeys. See where else you can get away with it, too! In the cinema, at the coffee shop, between your turn at bowling. Instead of winding down at the end of the day by slumping in front of the TV, try stretching or watching from a deep squat or lunge.
Make it fun
We are all more likely to stick with a new habit that we find rewarding in some way, and while the joys of a longer life are important, they aren’t very… tangible. We’ve got a fix for that, too! Turn your victory over the ravages of time into a victory over your friends and family by adding a competitive element to your standing resolution. There are plenty of apps for competitive activity challenges. You could even compete against other people in your team at work, or just against yourself - because who doesn’t love crossing off another day of hitting their goals on the calendar? You could all chip in for a prize, or get your boss involved so she can see the benefits of helping everyone get out of their seats!
Remember - the aim is to decrease sitting, rather than increase activity, although the two can be linked. Don’t just run up and down the stairs in your lunch hour to take the top spot on the leaderboard!
Eat up the benefits
We can all be guilty of spending our lunch breaks eating at our desks while we scroll on our phones. In fact, over 50% of office workers have nowhere to eat their lunch except for at their own desk! So we recommend getting out there with some colleagues, or picking up your lunch and chatting to someone. Who knows, maybe we’ll help beat loneliness, too - around 55% of Londoners say they feel lonely in the city, and the numbers elsewhere probably aren’t far off, either.
It’s time to stop getting our lunches delivered to our desks, and start hunting and gathering again. Take a detour through the park, climb to a viewpoint or discover a new part of town. Or spend yet another hour at your desk - your call!
All rise
Okay, so maybe you lack competitive spirit. Not to worry - you can create a non-competitive community where the focus is support and encouragement. Start a Slack or WhatsApp walking club, or use your business networking platform if you have one. You could share photos of your morning walks, or take it in turns to do a coffee run to different cafes each day.
Do you manage a team? You can help them rise to the challenge by incentivising time spent out of their seats, instead of time spent sat at their desk. It sounds counter-intuitive - encouraging your employees to get away from their computers - but healthy bodies make for healthy minds. Try on-the-hour short walks (a circuit of the office floor), or healthy snacks (placed away from desks) at key ‘slump’ times, where your team may be two-hours into a post-lunch sit. Ban meetings that last over an hour (who wouldn’t love this?), and provide wireless headphones or mobiles so calls can be taken anywhere.
Take a stand
While the usual health tips (quit smoking, cut out sugary drinks, eat vegetables, exercise four times a week) are all great for your health, they don’t mitigate the effects of sitting. Focus on cutting out sitting as a separate activity to those things. It doesn’t have to be a huge change all at once; there’s no need to wait for the start of a new year, a break-up or an upcoming holiday. Now is the perfect time to start making small steps towards a longer life.
If you read this while stood up, well done. You just might make it out of here alive.
References
JL Veerman, et al. Television viewing time and reduced life expectancy: a life table analysis BJSM 2012;46:927-930.
M Shaw, et al. Time for a smoke? One cigarette reduces your life by 11 minutes BMJ 2000;320(7226):53.
AM Lis, et al. Association between sitting and LBP Eur Spine J 2007;16(2):283–298
AR Homer, et al. Too much sitting and dysglycemia: Mechanistic links and implications for obesity Curr Opin Endocr Metab Res 2019;4:42-49.
O Cronin. Physical activity for health: the impact of exercise on the human gut microbiota and pro-inflammatory cytokines. PhD Thesis; 2018 University College Cork.
V Rangul, et al. The associations of sitting time and physical activity on total and site-specific cancer incidence: Results from the HUNT study, Norway PLoS ONE 2018;13(10):e0206015.
AV Patel, et al. Leisure-Time Spent Sitting and Site-Specific Cancer Incidence in a Large U.S. Cohort Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(9)1350-1359.
P Ma, et al. Daily sedentary time and its association with risk for colorectal cancer in adults: A dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Medicine (Baltimore). 2017;96(22):e7049.
Y Kubota, et al. TV viewing and incident venous thromboembolism: the Atherosclerotic Risk in Communities Study J Thromb Thrombolysis 2018;45:353.
(source) AV Patel, et al. Prolonged Leisure Time Spent Sitting in Relation to Cause-Specific Mortality in a Large US Cohort Am J Epidemiol 2018;187(10)2151–2158.
H Arem, et al. Leisure Time Physical Activity and Mortality: A Detailed Pooled Analysis of the Dose-Response Relationship. JAMA Intern Med 2015;175(6):959–967.
