The Impact of Prolonged Sitting on Office Workers' Health

Prolonged sitting poses serious health risks for office workers, impacting metabolic health and increasing the likelihood of various diseases.

### The Health Risks of Prolonged Sitting for Office Workers
* Prolonged sitting is a major health threat to office workers, leading to various metabolic abnormalities and conditions such as **high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, dyslipidemia, fatty liver, and belly fat**.
* 📉 In a study comparing individuals with the highest and lowest total physical activity levels, it was found that the **amount of time spent sitting without moving** was a more critical factor in determining metabolic health than the **intensity of exercise**.
* 💉 Continuous glucose monitoring revealed that simply standing instead of sitting while working can lead to a **43% reduction in postprandial blood sugar levels**.
* ❌ The benefits of exercise are significantly diminished when one sits for more than 8 hours a day, making it crucial for office workers to **avoid prolonged sitting**.
* Prolonged sitting not only affects metabolic health but also contributes to common issues such as **cervical disc problems, lumbar disc issues, and leg swelling in women**.
* 🏥 "Today, we discussed the concept of '**chair disease**' and '**chair addiction**' in the context of managing the health of office workers. Next week, we will delve into the topic of **hyperlipidemia**, which is of **even greater importance**."
* "For those of us who care about our health, exercise is like taking medicine. However, it is not sufficient. It is crucial to **consciously stand up every 30 to 60 minutes, lightly move for 2 to 3 minutes, and then sit back down**."

And basically, the quality of sleep for us office workers is not good. When there is competition with colleagues at work, conflicts with superiors, etc., it's hard to focus on reality. Is it meaningful to work while sacrificing our health now? As I mentioned earlier, office workers should consider restoring the values of tests reflecting metabolic abnormalities for vascular health as a basic health management practice. One of the biggest factors threatening the health of office workers, in my opinion, is chair addiction. It is also called chair disease or chair addiction. In English, it is called sitting disease. In reality, in countries like the United States, people are addicted to chairs. As you can see in the picture, Americans spend only 3 hours being active out of 24 hours, while the rest of the time is spent sitting or sleeping. This is the current life of Americans. If you look at the next slide, you will see sit.

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you. It's said that sitting for long periods is as harmful to your health as smoking. You should stand up occasionally and move around to get the blood flowing. Now, in the graph on the top left, what kind of graph is it? In 1950, in London, UK, the bus drivers and ticket inspectors were all men, with similar socio-economic levels. The only difference was whether they sat all day or stood. They had to sit and inspect tickets when passengers boarded. Other than the sitting and standing difference, everything else was the same. When they looked at the risk of heart attacks, the bus drivers were over twice as high as the ticket inspectors.

It's out. In medical statistics, saying more than double is a huge difference. It's not an exaggeration to say that the risk of myocardial infarction is twice as high just by repeating whether you sat or stood during the day. This is also interesting. I looked at how many abnormal findings were found in young people recently diagnosed with diabetes. I asked them how long they sat without moving. Divided by 3 minutes. The top 13 who really didn't move sat an average of 11.64 hours, and the bottom 13 who sat the least sat 6.4 hours, so they sat for 6 hours. There are several expectations in the company. It is certain that people who sit for a long time without moving.

It was high. What's interesting is when you look next to it and ask how much exercise you do above middle school level. People who hardly do it, people who do it moderately, and people who do it a lot are divided into three groups. People who exercise a lot spent 2.4 hours exercising a day. But look, there's not much difference between those who didn't exercise at all and those who exercised hard. Of course, whether I exercised hard is important. Why is it important? If you look at the graph below, you can see that people who exercise a lot have higher cardiorespiratory endurance, and the higher the cardiorespiratory endurance, the further away they are from metabolic abnormalities. So, exercise is important. However, the actual factor influencing these metabolic abnormalities is how much time you spend sitting without moving. Next, as seen in this picture, the total amount of physical activity per day is sitting.

Not only the time spent, but also how much you stood up, walked, and moved around, we looked at that. When you compare the group with the highest total physical activity and the group with the lowest, those with high physical activity levels tend to have relatively lower metabolic expectations. It is an important indicator to see how many abnormal metabolic conditions they have and how few they have. It's not about whether I exercise intensively, but about how long I sit without moving. Then it's about how much time you spend standing up and being active. This determines whether you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, fatty liver, which are caused by sitting all day. You should pay attention to this. Another interesting study is, with the same group of people, at regular intervals, let's say we sleep for 8 hours out of 24 hours, then we sit for 14 hours out of the remaining 16 hours, and then we have meal times.

The rest of the time was just sitting still. Then, what did I do next? I sat for 13 hours, cycled for one hour, pushed myself hard for one hour of exercise, and let the remaining 13 hours pass by sitting still. Lastly, what did I do? I tried to reduce the time spent sitting as much as possible, either standing or lightly walking. What were the results? In conclusion, even if you cycled intensively for an hour, there was no significant difference in the results between those who did not exercise and kept sitting continuously. However, those who did not exercise but consciously tried to reduce their sitting time or make an effort to move saw improvements in blood sugar control and insulin resistance. Among office workers, some still manage their health by waking up an hour earlier than others, going to the gym, and exercising.

Some people want to exercise or swim at the gym, but when they come to the company, they just sit all day. The effects of exercise are offset. Still, it's an interesting study. We gave the same lunch menu to the research subjects and measured their blood sugar levels after sitting and working and standing and working by wearing a continuous glucose monitoring device. Just by standing instead of sitting while working, the postprandial blood sugar was 43% lower. When sitting, blood sugar was much higher compared to standing, and it didn't drop. Sitting and working after meals, meaning sitting still and working, is not helpful at all. Instead, it can cause vascular damage and make blood sugar control difficult. So, for those of us who care about our health, a day...

I will exercise for an hour. It's great. However, if you sit still for more than 8 hours a day, the effects of exercise are halved. Already, for office workers who are worried about high blood pressure, diabetes, dyslipidemia, fatty liver, and belly fat, they cannot take the medicine called exercise now. Due to sitting still without moving, various metabolic activities collapse. What should we do? We need to exercise like taking medicine, but that's not enough. Consciously, you need to get up every 30 to 60 minutes, move lightly for 2 to 3 minutes, and then sit down. It might be a bit annoying, and what difference does it make to do that? No, it does make a difference. If you sit still for a long time, not only metabolic abnormalities occur in our body, but in fact, office workers are now experiencing common cervical disc, lumbar disc, and leg swelling in women.

It is the result of sitting for a long time. Our body has 360 joints and about 600 muscles. So, what does it mean to have so many joints and muscles? We need to move. Therefore, the structure of our body is designed to move. If we just lie down or sit without moving, there is no need for many joints. It is designed for movement. However, if we don't move, problems arise, so we need to move. Sitting without moving for a long time is as harmful as smoking. Today, we talked about chair disease and chair addiction in terms of managing the health of office workers. Next week, we will talk about hyperlipidemia, which is even more important, so I would like to emphasize it once again. That's all for today. Don't forget to subscribe, like, and turn on notifications. See you next time.

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박용우의 스위치온

Prolonged sitting is a major threat to the health of office workers, being referred to as "chair addiction" or "sitting disease.

" Research shows that excessive sitting is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks and can contribute to metabolic abnormalities and vascular health issues.

Studies have also found a significant association between prolonged sitting and the risk of myocardial infarction, as well as a link to abnormal findings in young people diagnosed with diabetes.

The Impact of Exercise and Inactivity on Metabolic Health

People who exercise a lot have higher cardiorespiratory endurance, which is linked to lower metabolic abnormalities.

However, the amount of time spent sitting and being inactive is a more significant factor in metabolic health than the intensity of exercise.

High levels of overall physical activity, including standing and moving, are associated with fewer metabolic abnormalities.

The time spent sitting without movement can contribute to conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and fatty liver, emphasizing the importance of reducing sedentary behavior.

The Impact of Sitting and Exercise on Blood Sugar Control

Sitting for long hours, even after intense exercise, shows no significant improvement in blood sugar control.

However, consciously reducing sitting time and increasing movement can improve blood sugar levels and insulin resistance.

Simply standing instead of sitting while working can lead to a 43% lower postprandial blood sugar level, showing the negative impact of sitting still on blood sugar control.

The Impact of Prolonged Sitting on Health

Prolonged sitting can halve the effects of exercise and lead to various metabolic issues and physical discomfort.

It can also contribute to joint and muscle problems, similar to the effects of smoking.

To combat these issues, it's important to incorporate light movement every 30 to 60 minutes, as our bodies are designed for constant motion.

This is crucial, especially for office workers, in order to manage the negative health effects of prolonged sitting.