The Many Dangers of Prolonged Sitting

Over the years, more and more Singaporeans stay seated for long hours a day. Whether it’s because they have a desk job or they simply just lounge around sitting all day, it’s definitely become a problem. The thing is though, a lot of people still neglect the negative effects of prolonged sitting. And many of these can be really detrimental to our health.

It significantly affects our posture

One of the more obvious effects of prolonged sitting is that it damages our posture. Even if you do sit up straight, there will be times when you don’t even notice that you’re slouching already. Your neck and shoulders will eventually get stiffer and stiffer, your spine will be less flexible, even your hips will also become weaker.

You’ll experience more body pain

As a result of poor posture, you’ll become more and more susceptible to body aches. This is because your muscles and bones already grow weak. The lower back is usually the first to manifest pain. Sometimes you might also experience neck and shoulder pain from time to time as well.

Your lower body becomes weaker as well

The leg muscles and the glutes (butt muscles) are among the largest muscles in the body. Obviously, they are very important because we cannot walk and stabilize our body without them. You can only imagine what happens when these muscles deteriorate over time. Prolonged sitting can actually make your leg muscles weaker simply because you don’t use your legs when sitting down!

It can cause weight gain

You burn significantly less calories when you’re sitting down. In addition to that, staying active helps your digestive system work more efficiently as well. That means if you sit for long periods, your digestion will actually be affected as well. Your stomach will more likely process nutrients ineffectively which means more sugars and fats will go to your body and add to your weight.

It also affects our blood circulation

One of the more detrimental effects of prolonged sitting is that it causes poor blood flow, and it usually goes unnoticed. Poor circulation can lead to many problems for the body. Having varicose veins is a common result because sitting too much causes blood to gather in the legs. There are also more dangerous problems like Deep Vein thrombosis and other types of blood clots.

Ultimately, it can affect the heart

Most of the things mentioned above will eventually affect the cardiovascular system. Firstly, when the digestive system has difficulty converting fat, it could lead to plaque build-up in the arteries. Second, if our blood circulation is poor, our heart won’t be able to pump out blood effectively.