If you find yourself sitting behind a desk most of your day, you are not alone. Due to technology, we have become more inactive than ever. This for sure impacts our health. We will share the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle and what you can do about it.

A large review of studies found that sitting for long periods was associated with worse health outcomes including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and cancer. Sedentary behaviour can also increase your risk of dying, either from heart disease or other medical problems. Even if you do 30 minutes per day of physical activity, what matters is what you do in the other 23 hours of the day. If you are sitting more than 10 hours a day, your cardiovascular risk really goes up.

Want to feel better, have more energy and even add years to your life? Just exercise. The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity are hard to ignore. Everyone benefits from exercise, regardless of age, sex or physical ability. Research findings show that physical activity increases the survival rate for patients with breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers by up to 45%.

So, here is what you can do to minimize your risk:

• make an effort to get up and move around every hour
• Have walking meetings if possible
• For every 20 minutes of sitting, try to stand for 8 minutes and move around for 2 minutes
• Track your steps with a fitness tracker, your phone or a simple pedometer. It is recommended to target 10,000 steps a day. Do it gradually if you are very sedentary

Take baby steps. It doesn’t have to be vigorous. Just stand up and move your muscles.

List offers related to cardiovascular or Type 2 diabetes.

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Ref.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/sitting-disease-how-a-sedentary-lifestyle-affects-heart-health

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/obesity/physical-activity-fact-sheet

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20048389