Its 10:00am and you rush to office, slog in front of the computer the whole day for 5 days in a week and then drink your heart out and party till you drop during the weekends. This is the lifestyle of the majority of people in the world today. Sluggish, lazy, stagnant and laid back is how the life of the youth has become today. The lucrative jobs in the MNCs provide everything from a good bank balance, a so called good life, and all the comforts that one can wish for in life. However, the same kind of job profile that requires sitting at one place takes away one of the most important elements from life, namely ‘health’. With the kind of sedentary lifestyle that most of us follow now-a-days, there is hardly any room for physical exercise or labor. Our body needs some amount of physical challenge in order to work efficiently and stay healthy, which the sedentary lifestyle of today is not able to provide. Here are some of the effects of sedentary lifestyle that can prove to be dangerous and harmful for our body.
Effects Of Sedentary Lifestyle
Obesity
The direct effect of an inactive life is an overweight torso. If you are leading a sedentary life, you are absorbing and indirectly storing a lot of calories, because there is no physical exercise to burn the calories down. It is these calories that get stored in the body as excess fat leading to obesity.
Risk Of Heart Diseases
For the heart to function properly there should be a continuous flow of blood from the blood vessels. However, a laid back life style can lead to a slowdown in the blood supply to the heart, making the blood vessels stiff and blocked. A serious case of blockage of blood vessels can also lead to arteriosclerosis and even a cardiac arrest.
Muscles Lose Their Tone
Your muscles require regular exercise to be in good shape and give you enough strength for your day-to-day activities. However, if you are leading a sedentary life, the muscles are hardly used. This lack of movement and exercise will reduce the muscle capacity and strength in your body. Sitting all day long without any exercise is also not beneficial for your body posture and spine health. Spending a life of a couch potato can shorten and tighten your hip flexors and hamstrings, making the muscle that supports the spine weak and stiff.
Risk Of Cancer
A sedentary life also increases the risk of cancer in a person. Decrease in physical activity can also lead to different cancers like breast cancer, colon cancer and tumours as well. An inactive body can give birth to dangerous cancerous cells, increasing the risk of deaths due to cancer.
Increased Risk Of Diabetes
The level of blood sugar level can also be kept under check by regular physical activity. If the body gets regular and intensive exercise, it can easily control the blood sugar levels. However, on the other hand if there is no physical exercise provided to the body, the risk of an increase in blood sugar levels is inevitable. Increase in blood sugar levels will put pressure on the pancreas which will affect the secretion of the hormone insulin, increasing the chance of a diabetes attack.
Risk Of Osteoporosis
Continuous inactiveness can cause the bones to lose their strength because there is no challenge for them to support the body. A prolonged period of slothfulness can cause problems like arthritis and osteoporosis thus leading the bones to become brittle and weak.
Sleeping Difficulties
A life of a couch potato can also lead to sleeping problems. A sedentary lifestyle does not provide any challenge for the body. Therefore, the body feels no need for rest leading to sleeping difficulties which can turn into insomnia later on.
Faster Aging Process
Telomere, the repeat sequence of ‘deoxyribonucleic acid’ (DNA) is the one that sits on the ends of chromosomes, protecting them from any damage. These telomeres get shorter as we age. Research has proven the fact that in inactive people the telomeres shorten faster than in an active person. The faster the rates of shortening, the faster will the signs of old age appear and vice versa.
Effects Of Sedentary Lifestyle
Obesity
The direct effect of an inactive life is an overweight torso. If you are leading a sedentary life, you are absorbing and indirectly storing a lot of calories, because there is no physical exercise to burn the calories down. It is these calories that get stored in the body as excess fat leading to obesity.
Risk Of Heart Diseases
For the heart to function properly there should be a continuous flow of blood from the blood vessels. However, a laid back life style can lead to a slowdown in the blood supply to the heart, making the blood vessels stiff and blocked. A serious case of blockage of blood vessels can also lead to arteriosclerosis and even a cardiac arrest.
Muscles Lose Their Tone
Your muscles require regular exercise to be in good shape and give you enough strength for your day-to-day activities. However, if you are leading a sedentary life, the muscles are hardly used. This lack of movement and exercise will reduce the muscle capacity and strength in your body. Sitting all day long without any exercise is also not beneficial for your body posture and spine health. Spending a life of a couch potato can shorten and tighten your hip flexors and hamstrings, making the muscle that supports the spine weak and stiff.
Risk Of Cancer
A sedentary life also increases the risk of cancer in a person. Decrease in physical activity can also lead to different cancers like breast cancer, colon cancer and tumours as well. An inactive body can give birth to dangerous cancerous cells, increasing the risk of deaths due to cancer.
Increased Risk Of Diabetes
The level of blood sugar level can also be kept under check by regular physical activity. If the body gets regular and intensive exercise, it can easily control the blood sugar levels. However, on the other hand if there is no physical exercise provided to the body, the risk of an increase in blood sugar levels is inevitable. Increase in blood sugar levels will put pressure on the pancreas which will affect the secretion of the hormone insulin, increasing the chance of a diabetes attack.
Risk Of Osteoporosis
Continuous inactiveness can cause the bones to lose their strength because there is no challenge for them to support the body. A prolonged period of slothfulness can cause problems like arthritis and osteoporosis thus leading the bones to become brittle and weak.
Sleeping Difficulties
A life of a couch potato can also lead to sleeping problems. A sedentary lifestyle does not provide any challenge for the body. Therefore, the body feels no need for rest leading to sleeping difficulties which can turn into insomnia later on.
Faster Aging Process
Telomere, the repeat sequence of ‘deoxyribonucleic acid’ (DNA) is the one that sits on the ends of chromosomes, protecting them from any damage. These telomeres get shorter as we age. Research has proven the fact that in inactive people the telomeres shorten faster than in an active person. The faster the rates of shortening, the faster will the signs of old age appear and vice versa.
