SELF HEALTH + HEALING

Chairs: we sit in them, work in them, shop in them, eat in them and date in them. Americans sit for most of their waking hours, 13 hours every day on average. Yet chairs are lethal.

This grim conclusion may surprise you, but 18 studies reported during the past 16 years, covering 800,000 people overall, back it up. In 2010, for example, the journal Circulation published an investigation following 8,800 adults for seven years. Those who sat for more than four hours a day while watching television had a 46 percent increase in deaths from any cause when compared with people who sat in front of the tube for less than two hours. Other researchers have found that sitting for more than half the day, approximately, doubles the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular problems. Overall, when you combine all causes of death and compare any group of sitters with those who are more active, sitters have a 50 percent greater likelihood of dying.

Spending 8-plus hours at your desk doesn't have to ruin your body. Add these 5 daily movements to your routine.

You’ve heard the news by now: Sitting is the new smoking. It’s been linked to an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and early death. Not to mention possible potato-like proportions. But with most of us logging hours at desk jobs (and recovering from hard workouts with Netflix binges), can it really be that bad?

Yes, indeed, says Vladimir Friedman, DC, CCSP, of Accelicare Sports Chiropractic in Manhattan. “When you’re in an improper slouched or seated posture for extended periods of time, there is physiological change in the body," he says. "In addition to the proven disease risks, things start to lock up. Tissues can weaken and the effects can be degenerative.” (In fact, Friedman often shows clients how to apply kinesio tape in a crisscross pattern at the low back to teach them how to stay in proper alignment when sitting.) 

Friedman likens the idea to time spent in a cast: When muscle tissue is continually immobile, it shortens and shrinks over time and weakens. But give your body a load using your own body weight—from standing to squatting to taking a walk—and the measure of stress provided helps strengthen it.