Yahoo Lifestyle Why You Need To Get Up From Your Desk Today
We joke about being chained to our desks, but the reality is, many of us aren't moving around nearly enough during our working day.
A new study by the University of Toronto says sitting too much can lead to higher rates of hospitalisation, heart disease and cancer, as well as early death.
"What struck me, and I was quite surprised by this, was that the deleterious effects of sitting time were almost uniform across the board of total mortality, heart disease mortality, the occurrence of heart disease, the occurrence of cancer and the mortality from cancer," says the study's author, Dr David Alter. "When we see a consistent effect, that reaffirms that something real is going on."
What's even more disturbing is that even if you regularly exercise, it doesn't balance our the negative side effects of sitting all day.
"You can make a little bit of headway on the bad effects of sedentary time by at least doing some exercise," Alter says. "But you can't completely nullify it."
So what's the solution? Alter thinks its time to modify the public health message - and to stop laughing at your co-workers with stand-up desks, because they're burning approximately 140 more calories an hour than you are.
If a stand up desk isn't possible, Alter recommends leaving your desk for one to three minutes every half an hour, and when watching television, standing or exercising during commercials.
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