Did you know that siting is the new smoking and that standing every now and then can help you lose weight? Yes it's true!
Long back I had shared how sitting for long hours is detrimental to health and how standing more often and moving about can help lower your risks of several lifestyle diseases. Prolonged sitting has been linked to the obesity epidemic, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Charles E Matthews, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute says that sitting for hours is linked to more cancers than just breast and colon cancer. He warns that we need more physical activity than we thought - but more importantly, we need to sit less.
Just
one hour of TV a day puts even the most active of us at a higher risk
of not just breast and colon cancer - which we already knew - but also
nine other cancers including lung and head or neck.
Furthermore if you just laze around the whole day by sitting or lying down and then do vigorous exercise for an hour, it would still be as good as leading a sedentary lifestyle with no health benefits.
Another health benefit of standing more often is it increases your metabolic rate and helps you lose weight. A new study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology1 found that standing instead of sitting for six hours a day could prevent weight gain and help people to actually lose weight.
This paper examined whether standing burns more calories than sitting.
The researchers found that standing burned 0.15 kcal per minute more than sitting. By substituting standing for sitting for six hours a day, a 65 kg person would expend an extra 54 kcal a day.
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| Stand more often to lose weight |
Another health benefit of standing more often is it increases your metabolic rate and helps you lose weight. A new study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology1 found that standing instead of sitting for six hours a day could prevent weight gain and help people to actually lose weight.
This paper examined whether standing burns more calories than sitting.
The researchers found that standing burned 0.15 kcal per minute more than sitting. By substituting standing for sitting for six hours a day, a 65 kg person would expend an extra 54 kcal a day.
Assuming no increase in food intake, that would equate to 2.5 kg in one year and 10 kg in four years.
Researchers said: "Standing not only burns more calories, the additional muscle activity is linked to lower rates of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes, so the benefits of standing could go beyond weight control."
The authors concluded that replacing standing for sitting could be yet another behaviour change to help reduce the risk of long term weight gain.
So stop being a couch potato; stand more often and move around to lose weight. Having some form of movement and activity throughout the day is more beneficial than spending the whole day in a sitting position and then exercising only for an hour or so.
Researchers said: "Standing not only burns more calories, the additional muscle activity is linked to lower rates of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes, so the benefits of standing could go beyond weight control."
The authors concluded that replacing standing for sitting could be yet another behaviour change to help reduce the risk of long term weight gain.
So stop being a couch potato; stand more often and move around to lose weight. Having some form of movement and activity throughout the day is more beneficial than spending the whole day in a sitting position and then exercising only for an hour or so.
sitting causes your body to stop circulating an enzyme that helps absorb fat. Standing starts the enzyme's fat-absorbing activity and leads to more weight loss, even if you aren't moving around. As part of a program of healthy eating and regular physical activity, standing more frequently and for longer periods of time can help you lose weight.
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