There is a good reason for couch day enthusiasts to turn to an activity: the more time you spend sitting, the more fat cells expand and promote weight gain.
For less generous shapes, leave your sofa! A study, published on March 20 in the Biophysical Journal, suggests that the time spent sitting corresponds to the fullness of the posterior. This is the very serious result of the analysis of fat cells by a team from Tel Aviv University (Israel).
“We are not just what we eat,” says Prof. Amit Gefen, who led the study. “We are also what it feels like, like the pressure of an increased weight or the prolonged pressure of the gluteal tissues of the sofa kings. The results of his team show that diet is not the only factor in obesity. The mechanisms of cellular expansion at work when one remains seated are even decisive: the pressure undergone by the cells of the posterior during a prolonged sitting position causes a modification of fatty tissues, more particularly the lipid droplets which carry fat.
More rigid cells
“Unlike muscle and bone tissue, which mechanically weakens when used infrequently, fat deposits in cells expand when under prolonged pressure of around 50%,” explains Prof. Gefen. “It’s a big discovery. The lipid droplets, instead of weakening, become more rigid and distort the cells around them.
The researchers’ goal now is to understand how fat cells use nutrients to change their shape. If they can explain the mechanism of weight gain, they hope to develop new approaches to provide practical solutions to obesity. Until then, it’s still possible to take the bull by the horns and go for a more active lifestyle – whenever possible. Because sedentary lifestyle, in addition to being a factor of obesity, turns out to be a cardiovascular risk factor. According to the WHO, it kills 3 million people each year.
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