Fidgeting May Offset The Life-Shortening Effects of Sitting
Sitting is bad for you. But two new reports offer anecdotes — one involving fidgeting. (Photo: Getty Images)
Sitting is the new health villain. Just this year alone, studies have shown too much time on your behind has been linked to increased risks of anxiety, women’s risk of cancer and even liver disease.
But now, two studies released this week focus on the simple solutions for this worldwide problem.
The first study, which is published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, suggests that fidgeting in your seat — yes, like squirming around — may cancel out the negative health effects that result from extended periods of sitting.
Researchers examined the data from the United Kingdom’s University of Leeds UK Women’s Cohort Study. With over 14,000 responses, the experts discovered that the women who described themselves as “occasional fidgeters” were the only ones who were at an increased risk of mortality from sitting for too long. However, the ladies who considered themselves “moderately or very fidgety” had no increased risk of mortality.
“While further research is needed, the findings raise questions about whether the negative associations with fidgeting, such as rudeness or lack of concentration, should persist if such simple movements are beneficial for our health,” said co-lead author Professor Janet Cade in a formal statement.
Study number two comes from researchers from King’s College in London who have concluded that better heath will not come from exercising for longer periods of time, but from reducing the amount of time you spend in your office chair.
In fact, this study, which is published in the journal Health Psychology Review, is the first to indicate that additional physical activity is less likely to be effective at reducing overall prolonged sitting than directly attempting to decrease sitting time. The authors examined the sit-less strategies used by 38 people, and the “promising interventions” that were used by 60 percent of the participants included sit-stand desks and relying on prompts and cues to stop sitting.
“The importance of this study is not in showing that interventions can work, but in pointing out how they might work,” said co-author professor Stuart Biddle from Victoria University in a formal statement. “This is crucial if behavior is to be achieved more efficiently and effectively.” In conclusion, the researchers believe that sitting time should be viewed as a separate behavior change target to physical activity.
“I completely agree that increasing levels of physical activity is not effective at reducing prolonged sitting than directly attempting to decrease sitting time,” Heather A. Hausenblas, PhD, a physical activity and healthy aging expert and an Associate Professor at Jacksonville University in the College of Health Sciences, tells Yahoo Health. “Too much sitting — or being sedentary — is a health risk that is additional to, and distinct from, too little exercise. Think of it this way: Exercise and sedentary behaviors are independent classes of behavior.”
Related: Too Much Sitting Can Kill You in a New Way
She explains that even those individuals who meet their exercise requirements — let’s say working out at a moderate intensity for 150 minutes per week — yet spend the majority of their remaining waking hours sitting on their keister are still at risk for chronic health issues. “This is an excellent example of what is meant by the term ‘active couch potato,” explains Hausenblas. “In other words, sitting may be new the new smoking—even for regular exercisers.”
So your goal is to reduce the amount of prolonged sitting (which is defined as sitting for more than one hour without standing) each day. Hausenblas offers a handful of practical ways to get off your seat:
Set goals for limiting the amount of sitting time. “Perhaps use a check sheet to mark every time you get up from your seat.”
Use the alarm on your computer or smartphone. “Set the timer to go off every hour to remind you to stand up and walk around the office for one minute.”
Take phone calls standing up. “Also, instead of sending a text or an email to a colleague, get off your chair and walk to their office.”
Choose to stand during a lecture, meeting or presentation, if permitted.
Consider working on a stand-up desk (“I have one and I love it!)
But if escaping from your desk is a challenge on certain days, here are nine exercises that can done in your cubicle. And there’s also this two-minute solution to sitting all day.
Read This Next: The Most Common Sitting Mistake — And How to Fix It
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