“Sitting is the new smoking.” –Dr. James Levine (Director, Mayo Clinic)
In simple terms, a sedentary lifestyle can be described as one characterized by inactivity. This involves sitting or lying down for a minimum duration of six hours daily, over several days and weeks at a time.
As a highly infectious emergent disease, COVID-19 mandated governments worldwide to impose restrictions on movement, quarantines and lockdowns to enforce self-distancing and isolation protocols. While these measures were necessary in the battle against the pandemic, the ripple effect was the promotion of unhealthy behaviour, with almost every individual being forced to engage in remote work or schooling, and in cases of infection, self-isolation under strict quarantine.
Humans, being the habitual creatures they are, tend to persist in formed routines. Thus, even two years after the outbreak, many still find it difficult to step outside of their comfort zones and try something new. As such, it has become a fearsome reality that whilst mankind has successfully navigated one plague, we might have traded it for another much more covert in its prevalence: the plague of sedentariness.
Officially, sedentariness is characterized by an energy expenditure that consumes above 1 and below 1.5 times the oxygen needed when the body is at rest. Most times, sedentariness creeps in during pleasurable activities, such as using one’s phone or computer while sitting or lying down, during reading, writing, watching television, or playing a board game. Sedentary living is especially dangerous as studies have consistently demonstrated that it contributes to obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, some types of cancer and even early death, as well as having adverse effects on the mental health of the individual.
The more weight one gains from inactivity, the harder the heart must work to sustain circulation. As an organ intended to be maintained as an engine, causing the heart to work extra hard without exercising it to improve its muscular strength is akin to idling a car all day without moving it. Eventually, the battery will run flat. Another adverse effect of sedentary living is an inadvertent loss of flexibility, as blood fails to flow freely through rigid muscles. This causes weakness, especially in the back and abdominal muscles. Likewise, osteoporosis has been linked to inactivity, alongside an increase in the likelihood of anxiety and depression.
So, how does one break the habit and prevent these outcomes? First of all, it begins with a conscious choice to keep active. If one is not privileged to have returned to a job that requires moving about in the post-lockdown era or is otherwise situated outside an environment that helps one keep fit, it is pertinent that the individual creates a workable action plan for himself/herself. Other than exercising at the gym or daily jogging, other simple keep-fit activities may be incorporated into one’s daily schedule, such as:
- callisthenics
- daily stretching or yoga
- early morning or evening strolls with friends or a pet
- taking the stairs instead of the elevator when chanced
- opting to stand instead of sitting whilst performing tasks
- parking a distance from the entrance to one’s workplace to promote walking
- pacing or casually walking around while on the phone
- breaking up the time spent sitting (this is especially for those whose jobs require prolonged sitting at a desk. It is advised that one stands and moves about for a short period of two minutes for every thirty minutes of sitting)
- using a fitness tracker, phone app or a simple pedometer to track one’s steps throughout the day. A target total of 10,000 steps per day is often recommended, however, if this seems like a stretch, it is alright to begin at about two thousand steps per day and work upwards from there.
In all, escape from the snare of sedentary living requires purposeful, sustained intentionality. Though the journey may seem long and winding, it is certainly worthwhile for the recovery and maintenance of mental and physical health. While the urge to continue living inactively may be tempting or even feel more natural than putting the body to active use, it is important to always remember when taking these steps along the path to liberation that Rome was not built in a day.
