Stand Up To Live a Long Life

Do you want to lose weight, be more productive, reduce the risk of developing diabetes and live as much as two years longer than you would have otherwise?

All these benefits are yours, by taking one simple action. Stand up.

A 2010 study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology that followed 123,000 adults over a period of 14 years showed that participants who sat more than six hours per day died at a higher rate than those who sat less than three hours per day.

Sitting, Diabetes and Smoking

The results of the study correspond with the results of research conducted by James Levine, M.D., Ph.D., an obesity researcher at the Mayo Clinic.

According to Dr. Levine, adults who sit fewer than two hours each day were less at risk of developing metabolic syndrome – a pre diabetic condition marked by a large waistline, high blood sugar, high blood pressure and elevated levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, On the other hand, sitting more than four hours per day correlates with a 50 percent higher risk of death from all causes.

Sitting more than four hours a day was also associated with a 125 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, according to Dr. Levine.

Too much sitting can do as much harm to the body as smoking, according to Marc Hamilton, a microbiologist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

Sitting for eleven hours each day cuts the production of lipoprotein lipase, a fat burning enzyme produced primarily by leg muscles, by as much as 95 percent.

Take a Stand at Work

Many people stand for much of the day: factory workers, nurses, waiters and waitresses come to mind.

However, a majority of professional workers sit at a desk for much of the day. Other than quitting their jobs, what can professional workers do?

Many office workers are opting for standing desks elevated to chest height. Dr Levine takes things a step further – literally, working nearly all day while walking on a desk treadmill.

However, there is some dispute about the benefits of standing for long periods at work. Alan Hedge, an ergonomics scholar at Cornell University, equates long periods of working at a standing desk with wearing high heels all day.

However, Hedge does advocate taking periodic breaks from sitting to stretch your legs.

The American Way

Despite efforts such as the “Let’s Move!” campaign targeted toward young people promoted by American First Lady Michelle Obama, Americans are sedentary.

Americans spend approximately 55 percent of the day in sedentary activities such as watching television or surfing the Internet, according to the Medline Plus website.

However, by reducing the time spent sitting down to less than three hours each day, Americans could add as much as two years to their life expectancies by sitting less than three hours each day.

Limiting time in front of the TV to less than two hours could add as much as 1.4 years of life expectancy for Americans.