Just as exercise can’t counteract the effects of smoking, it can not counteract the effects of sitting for lengthy periods of the day.
- After 1 hour of being seated – electrical activity in our muscles and our ability to burn calories both reduce significantly.
- After 3 hours – our arteries reduce in diameter by about half, which decreases blood flow everywhere in our body.
- After 6 hours – insulin becomes less effective at clearing blood sugar.
- After 2 weeks of sitting about 6 hours per day – LDL’s (bad fats) accumulate in our blood; enzymes that help breakdown fat, take a dive and muscles begin to breakdown.
- After 1 year of this continued sedentary lifestyle – there is a marked reduction in bone density and our brain function slows as significantly less blood is being pumped around the body.
- After 10 or more years of this – our quality of life becomes severely impacted which may lead to a reduction in lifespan of quite a number of years … Worth contemplating, while standing of course!