Too much time sitting causes body fat to accumulate around your organs, increasing risk of disease

Jobs often require an employee to sit down for long periods of time. Most employees, after work, spend time at home sitting down in front of the television or computer, and stay there unless they feel the need to eat or use the toilet. This is what defines a sedentary life – a daily routine of physical inactivity, which almost always leads to chronic diseases such as obesity, type-2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Researchers from the National Institute for Health Research Leicester Biomedical Research Center (NIHR-LBRC) found more evidence that sitting for prolonged periods of time causes an accelerated increase in adiposity.

The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in order to detect the levels of liver, visceral, subcutaneous and total abdominal fat. To measure sedentary time and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), they used an accelerometer attached as a belt to the waist of all 124 study participants. These participants were likely to develop type-2 diabetes, based on their family history and medical assessment. The results showed that the longer a person remained sedentary (low MVPA scores), the higher the levels of the fats mentioned above. Furthermore, results were higher in participants who did not meet the 150-minute recommendation of physical activity.

Exercise as prevention, not as a response

The quality or state of being fat – this is what adiposity means. Aside from the fat under your skin, there are deposits of fat that surround your organs, called visceral fat. Having visceral fat is normal (thin people have it too), but an excess of these fatty tissues may squeeze the organs too tightly and damage them. It’s not just the food you eat, but your daily activities as well. If your daily activities include long hours of just sitting down, then you already have a higher risk of developing the chronic diseases mentioned above. Match it with an insubstantial diet, and you’re just speeding up your way towards kicking the bucket. (Related: Obesity epidemic continues to ravage American youth: Nearly three-quarters aren’t eligible for military service.)

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Some people tend to just burn off the extra calories they’re guilty of. However, exercise shouldn’t be a symptomatic response but a preventive measure against excess fat and chronic diseases. People should consider engaging in physical activities that involve groups of people to motivate them to keep active on a regular basis. Not everyone has the luxury of time for working out, but you can still break a sweat by making slight modifications to your daily routine. Besides, it’s fun to change routine every now and then, especially if you don’t want to be stuck in a rut.

• Instead of riding a car, walk.
• Bike instead of drive.
• Use the stairs instead of an escalator or elevator.
• Do five half-squats after every hour of sitting down at the office.
• Stretch your limbs every 30 minutes or so, and do neck rotations too.
• Opt for standing tables instead of sit-downs when dining at the office pantry.
• Cook your own meals instead of buying microwaveable dishes.
• Put your treadmill in front of the television, run (or walk) when your favorite series comes on.

For more studies on health and wellness, visit Scientific.news.

The study entitled Sedentary Time and MRI-Derived Measures of Adiposity in Active Versus Inactive Individuals was authored by Joseph Henson, Charlotte L. Edwardson, Bruno Morgan, Mark A. Horsfield, Kamlesh Khunti, Melanie J. Davies, and Thomas Yates. The findings of the study were published in the Obesity research journal on December 2017.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

ScienceDaily.com

OnlineLibrary.Wiley.com