Work, eat, watch TV. What if we changed these habits a little by making them stand up? If this can be difficult to implement, we would still gain a lot by spending less time sitting on our posterior. A battery of studies has already shown that sitting down decreases life expectancy by increasing the risks of overweight, obesity and diabetes. But the worst is yet to come.
New work from the University of Regensburg in Germany drives the point home by releasing worrying figures. After analyzing 43 studies representing more than 4 million participants and 70,000 cases of cancer, it would appear that sitting overexposed to cancer riskregardless of the physical activity practiced elsewhere. In other words, you can be quite athletic, you still increase your risk of endometrial cancer by 10% for 2 consecutive hours spent sitting during the day. The risk of colon cancer is increased by 8% and lung cancer by 6% for 2 hours of sitting during the day.
Remain standing most often
“A sedentary lifestyle has a negative impact on cancers even in physically active people. This means that we must limit the time spent sitting as much as possible if we want to prevent cancer.”
To limit the risks, you can start by turning off your TV, or if not, stop snacking on junk in front of you. Indeed, TV appears to be the main responsible for an increased risk of colon or endometrial cancer, according to the study.
Another tip to stay up more often: get up in public transport.
At work, we move as soon as we can (to go to the photocopier, take a coffee break, to talk to colleagues, etc.). Americans have understood the message: more and more companies are encouraging their employees to work standing up. Some desks even have treadmills for exercising while tapping on the keyboard …
And you, would you like to work standing up? Have your say on the forum!
