Sitting down for more than 30 minutes at a time is fast emerging as the single biggest factor influencing metabolic syndrome
Unless you invest time in exercising, as well as eating right, fitness will just be...a living-room conversation topic for you. But don’t lose hope if you don’t have time to exercise (which I don’t believe); the one thing you can do while you’re struggling to get that exercise routine going is cut down on the amount of time you spend sitting.
Sitting down for more than 30 minutes at a time is fast emerging as the single biggest factor influencing metabolic syndrome, the condition linked to a host of obesity-related diseases. Our lifestyles today are full of sitting down— to work, to eat, to watch TV, to have coffee, to travel on flights, to talk things out, on a romantic date...sit, sit, sit...we seem to do nothing else. And the longer we sit, the bigger our medical bills. That’s because sitting is changing not just the size of our pants, it’s also making many invisible changes in our bodies, including our intracellular environment. Our hormones and enzymes seem to be at a loss about how to come to terms with how much time we spend sitting.
The biggest toll that sitting around takes is on insulin sensitivity. The insulin in our bodies is finding it tougher to transport nutrients and glucose to cells without the support of bodily movement. Blood sugar stays high, the cells starve, the insulin feels overworked, the body cries out for help—and we keep sitting. So watch that clock, get up and walk around before the 30 minutes are up. And sign up for that gym class, now.
(A fortnightly column on nutrition and fitness by the best-selling author of Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight)