“Sitting is the new smoking?“11 ways to avoid being a ‘sitter’

Let’s not be a ‘sitting duck’ and take things lightly. Every day we have young people dying or landing up in the emergency room with heart attacks and strokes. These diseases were not supposed to come that early in life. Being a ‘sitter’ is not just bad for the heart, we have several people developing very painful backs and sore neck due to hours of sitting in uncomfortable postures staring at the computer. Blood clots are more likely to form in our legs if we sit for long and these can then travel up to the heart or lungs or brain causing heart attacks and stroke. That’s why we are encouraged even during long flights or after any surgery to walk across at least once every couple of hours. Did you know that prolonged sitting is also a risk factor for certain types of cancers especially those of the intestines. Now you know why it’s being compared to smoking and it is being said that sitting is the new smoking.

Analyse yourself, are you well suited for your workplace? We have a very interesting term for this in medical parlance. We call it ‘ergonomics’ i.e, fitting the job to the worker. The idea is not to alter yourself rather change your workplace to suit your needs. So if you have been sitting all day consider the option of a ‘standing desk’. This desk is creating waves in the west, maybe it’s time we incorporate this concept in our Indian offices.

Why sitting is the new smoking ?

I recently came across a very interesting article which was a meta analysis of several studies. It was written that people who are predominantly sitting throughout the day have as much risk of dying as smokers. I have heard of the adage “sitting is the new smoking” but here they gave a detailed breakdown of the effects of sitting >8 hours a day vis a vis smoking. Alarmingly they said that the harm done due to sitting can only be undone by performing atleast 60 minutes of rigorous physical activity. This thought deeply troubled me as I started analysing how my last week passed by. This last week I was involved in extensive travel to several factories in South India and ended up making 3 trips out of Bangalore. I was fortunate to meet several people on the way and maybe because I had nothing else to do while ‘sitting idle’ or this article was at the back of my mind I had secretly noted how many of our jobs involved extensive sitting. The cab driver who drove us to Chennai, the garment workers I met in Tirupur, the shop keeper I bought my newspaper from, the IT professional who was working late night next to my seat on the train, the receptionist at the hotel i stayed in and the bus driver who drove in the night. These were just a few people I met on a 6 day trip and they all had jobs which involved extensive sitting for more than 8 hours in a day.

Changes in work profile and its effects on sitting

Look around you the work profile of a common man has undergone a paradigm shift. Gone are the days when people used to toil in the sun and grind their muscles to earn a living. Now most middle and upper class people enjoy working in the comforts of swanky offices and schools and have a dedicated desk to sit and work at the whole day. A typical day for most folks starts at maybe 8am and ends at 6pm. That is almost 10 hours spent at work and I’m sure most of us spend it sitting at a desk. The newer jobs that have have been created in the last couple of decades like the IT professional, the cab drivers, the radio jockey, the stock market analyst, and the delivery boys spend even longer hours in the sitting position either stationary or in a moving vehicle. In this context what the article I read about sitting is the new smoking becomes very applicable to me and you.

Look around you, how many of us can confidently be proud of the body that we are currently in. How many of us are resorting to dieting and eating healthy to loose a few pounds. While all that might help we can spend an entire day nah a week nah even a month without stepping out of the comforts of the four walls laying on a couch fixed to our screens. Lazing around has become the ‘in thing’ to do and we are all like the oversized cat Garfield in our homes.How we sit also matters. Earlier our ancestors use to sit on the ground with their legs crossed at the knees. The Japanese still sit down to have their meals at their low tables called kotatsu. Can you imagine doing that now? I certainly cannot sit and get up from the ground without two people helping me. We all have progressed from sitting on the floor to sitting on chairs, comfy couches and the latest ‘recliner seats’. Without adequate lumbar support such chairs can actually cause lower back aches to develop earlier. To avoid developing back pain I always recommend my patients to sit straight with their backs supported and feet touching the ground. The book or computer screen should be at their heart level. Being in a semi-reclined position with the laptop on your thighs will only strain your back and add to your woes. Make sure your chair is a comfortable one with adequate cushioning and the height is adjusted according to your need. If need be invest in a good quality chair and you will feel a world of difference.

If your still ‘sitting on the fence’ about what I have just told here let me tell you one more fact. The paper about sitting is the new smoking mentioned that the harm done by sitting idle while we are not working watching our screens would require even longer periods of exercise. The silver lining however is that even if we exercise for 10 minutes every day we will significantly add to our life span by several years. This is like the power of compounding we learn in finance. So a small start today is all that you need to go a long way. Now ‘sit back’ and let me give you a list of things you can change about yourself today

11 Tips for everyone

1. Are you stuck working from home since the start of this pandemic? Utilise this opportunity to work and ‘work out’ in the same space. Instead of watching a movie on streaming platforms plonked on your chair put on a nice home dance workout or exercise routine on YouTube and work out during the lull periods of your work. This will help you get off your high horses i.e, chair every once in a while.

2. Are you working in the office? Then park farthest from your office and ‘walk the extra mile’.

3. Climb stairs everywhere you go be it at the office or the shopping arena. This can be the 10 minute cardio workout that you need everyday.

4. I know of a student in my campus who had a very unique trait- he ran every where he wanted to go, he never walked! I’m not asking that you all do the same but at least pick up your pace while walking in your campus. The World Health Organisation recommends 30 minutes of brisk walking for at-least 5 days of the week. So next time you have to go from point A to point B get there briskly.

5. Cycle to work- If your workplace is closer to home you can either cycle or walk everyday. It’s a great way to pack in a little exercise into your routine without sweating it. Let not age nor status be a hindrance to that.

6. Go to the farthest washroom in your floor during your breaks. Even your caffeine breaks can be a good excuse to walk so that you ‘earn your beverage’.

7. While you are sitting at work try doing some exercises to strengthen your neck, back and quadriceps muscles. A simple way to avoid knee pain is to raise both your legs straight up and wait for at least 20 seconds before placing them down. This simple exercise can help strengthen your quadriceps muscles and prevent osteoarthritis. Teach this for your parents who can perform this exercise even while watching television or cutting vegetables while seated.

8. Don’t be seated during lunch breaks- I have said it earlier in this blog about uplifting your inner-self, I will say it again. The one hour break that you get for lunch gives ample time to pack a good cardio workout, so don’t just ‘sit on it’, utilise this precious time to walk around your campus.

9. Get a smart watch– yes those small devices fixed to our arms are super motivating to keep us moving. We can compete amongst colleagues to check who reaches the magic number of 10000 steps at the earliest everyday.

10. Home hacks- there are plenty of changes you can bring about in your home to avoid prolonged ‘sitting’. Do your chores yourself if you have the time. Mopping and cleaning don’t just help exercise your body but also relaxes your mind and is excellent for family bonding.

11. Weekends matter- what are you doing on your weekends? Switch the habit of ‘sitting pretty’ snuggled on the couch, eating takeout food and binge watching on the latest sitcom. Instead get out, walk to your nearby park, cycle around your neighbourhood or get a group of friends together and bond over a game of badminton. Let your Sunday set the mood for an active rest of the week.

So coming back to the question is sitting the new smoking? It is a unanimous yes. If you are both a sitter and a smoker then you are ‘sitting on a ticking time bomb’. Certainly our race has significantly increased the time spent sitting compared to what we did during Paleolithic times or even as recently as a hundred years ago but what we can change is to reduce the amount of ‘idle sitting’ duration. Do let me know how you avoid being a ‘sitter’ at your workplace in the comments section below.