Is Sitting For Too Long Harming Your Body? Nutritionist Nmami Agarwal Highlights The Risks

On a daily basis, most of us end up spending six hours or more sitting. Sitting for such prolonged periods of time has both short- and long-term health and physical repercussions, making this seemingly harmless action potentially lethal. Long periods of sitting are thought to slow the metabolism, affecting the body's ability to control blood sugar, blood pressure, and fat breakdown. In an Instagram video, nutritionist Nmami Agarwal has addressed the risks of sitting too much. Nmami titled her post, “Is sitting the new smoking!” and then went on to outline the fact that less sitting and more movement contributed to improved health in general.

Nmami's caption read, “Prolonged sitting (more than 8 hours) every day has been shown to cause severe diseases. Just like smoking, sitting can degrade the quality of life as the end results are the same.”

Then she went on to emphasise the necessity of maintaining a consistent level of muscle activity throughout the day. “Keep a reminder and move after every 2 hours of sitting, despite how important your work is. Nothing is more important than health and well-being,” added Nmami.

Here's what she said in the video:

Affects the heart: Prolong sitting is a heart hazard and can lead to cardiovascular disease. Nmami said it can cause arteries to block and increase the risk of heart disease.

Affects the respiratory system: It decreases lung capacity, increasing the risk of respiratory disorder.

Obesity: You are more prone to gain weight if you burn fewer calories. This is why sedentary behaviour like sitting and obesity are so strongly linked. Nmami also mentioned that prolonged sitting increases the level of cholesterol in the body.

Bone health: Sitting for lengthy periods of time can weaken your bones and joints, raise your risk of fracture, and increase your risk of lower back, neck, and joint pain.

Mental health: The mental effects of sitting are lesser understood than some of the physical effects. However, those who sit for prolonged periods of time are more likely to suffer from mental health issues. This could be due to the lack of mental health benefits of exercise when people spend their days sitting rather than moving. Frequent exercises and movement could help lessen the hazards.

Here's Nmami Agarwal's video: