How's that for a headline, patterned it after the evening news in about every city in America. Sell Fear. Make a astounding claim to keep you riveted at your seat. The problem is, physiologists may be proving that keeping you in your seat, may indeed be really, really bad for your health.
Physiologists have been studying obesity, diabetes and heart disease and have linked sitting to shutting down the enzyme lipase. Lipase is a big fat absorber. Simply put, standing engages muscles and turns on the enzyme lipase (puts it in your system) regardless of exercise, to process fat and cholesterol. Standing up also uses blood glucose. No brainer there, muscles are used more in standing then sitting, they need energy from somewhere.
Dr. Marc Hamilton, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia, states that heart disease, obesity and diabetes are 2-3x higher in people that sit a lot.
He goes on to say that standing increases lipase and so fat is absorbed by the muscles and when we sit it virtually shuts down allowing the fat to circulate in the blood stream and be deposited as body fat or go and clog arteries.
People who sat also reduced their good cholesterol levels by 22%. His advice, chose to stand in every activity that you can and take frequent breaks from the chair.
I know here in Grand Rapids, MI that Herman Miller the furniture manufacturer has made a stand up work station that is actually has treadmill that you walk on while working. Pretty interesting. The evidence is in, stand up for your health, literally.
1 comment:
herman miller products rule, i picked up their infamous aeron chair a few years back and it helped resolve all my back and neck pains. can learn more about office chair pain there.
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