How many hours do we sit in a day? According to National Health Statistics data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2020, the average time Koreans over the age of 19 spend sitting is 8.6 hours per day, which increases by about 0.3 hours every year. The longer you sit, the greater the negative impact on your health. The World Health Organization (WHO) even named it ‘Sitting Disease’ in the sense that chair addiction is a disease to raise awareness that a sedentary lifestyle is harmful to health.
The more time you spend sitting, the greater the negative impact on your health Source: Getty Imagesbank
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The disease is also known as ‘New Smoking’. The name was given to mean that it was harmful to health like smoking. Various studies and reports have already published the adverse effects of chair addiction on health. A 2010 American Cancer Society report said that “the amount of time you spend sitting down increases your risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and obesity”. the longest total sitting time had a 52% greater risk of dying from cancer than those with the shortest time.
A recent study found that women who sit for long periods double the risk of breast cancer. A research team led by Professor Brigid Lynch from the Victoria Cancer Council in Australia analyzed the link between breast cancer and physical activity and sedentary time in around 130,000 European women. They found that higher levels of physical activity were associated with a 41% lower risk of invasive breast cancer, regardless of menopausal status or tumor type, stage or grade. On the other hand, sitting for longer periods of time increased the risk of developing triple-negative breast cancer, a type of breast cancer that lacks three hormone receptors, by 104%. “This study suggests that prolonged sitting increases the risk of breast cancer,” said Professor Lynch. “Reducing sitting time through vigorous physical activity reduces adipose tissue in the body and has a beneficial effect on sex hormone levels. It can improve metabolic dysfunction and reduce inflammation, thereby reducing the risk of breast cancer.”
Sitting for long periods of time slows down your physical activity and lowers your metabolism. In addition, as insulin-related cell activity becomes dull, it increases the risk of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and hyperlipidemia, thereby threatening health.
How to escape from chair addiction?
If you are an office worker who sits all day, or an examiner studying, you should be more careful about being addicted to a chair. In normal life, it is necessary to make an effort to move as much as possible without stopping the body. Hidak’s exercise advisor Jeong Woon-kyung, an exercise expert, explained in Hidak’s column, “You should get up at least once every 30 minutes to an hour for any reason,” and introduced lifestyle habits that can help you get out of addiction on a chair. .
-Set the alarm on your phone to go off once an hour, and pick it up every time the alarm rings.
-Drink water from a 500mL bottle and drink it within 1 hour, then go get water.
– Move your body, like going to the bathroom to get water, and turn on stretching.
Support = exercise counseling Hidak Jung Woon-kyung (exercise specialist)
