What is a sedentary lifestyle. Sedentary lifestyle Sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle

Most often, laziness prevents us from playing sports or taking a walk. Physical activity today turns into a real feat. The world around is so mechanized that a person does not have to make an effort to achieve a result.

Meanwhile, doctors warn that a sedentary lifestyle can cause many serious diseases.

Of course, this way of life is very comfortable, but at the same time it is extremely life-threatening. Scientists have found that a sedentary lifestyle negatively affects human health and increases the risk of developing fatal diseases.

What is the danger?

With a sedentary lifestyle, blood flow slows down, which negatively affects the quality and speed of delivery of oxygen and nutrients. Chronic oxygen deficiency leads to malfunctioning of organs, due to which people suffer from various ailments: atherosclerosis, osteochondrosis, ischemic disease and others.

According to experts, when we sit, the load on. In addition, few of us try to maintain correct posture. Prolonged sitting in the wrong posture can lead to scoliosis.

Also, when a person spends a long time in a sitting position, blood stagnates in the organs of the pelvic region, which increases the risk of hemorrhoids and constipation. Add to this irregular and improper nutrition - as a result, people are constantly accompanied by unpleasant symptoms that significantly reduce the quality of life.

Do not forget about the problem of excess weight. A sedentary lifestyle is one of the provocateurs of the accumulation of excess energy in our body and.

How to solve a problem?

It is very simple to avoid the negative effects that a sedentary lifestyle has on our body. The main thing is to overcome laziness and start moving more.

The easiest and at the same time effective way is. Daily walks will not only provide full blood circulation, but also solve the problem of extra pounds, paint a healthy blush on your cheeks and give good mood, because during physical exertion, the hormone of happiness and joy is produced. Instead of swallowing handfuls of various medications, set aside some time in your busy schedule to walk. Depending on how they feel, a person should walk from 3 to 11 km a day. Alternatively, you can go swimming or skiing, but massage, contrary to popular belief, will not help solve the problem. A visit to the gym and health group under the guidance of an experienced instructor is also welcome, unless there are special contraindications for this. In general, a walk is an effective and, importantly, a free medicine.

Of course, the best option would be regular, at least three times a week, visiting a fitness club with all the programs it offers, or doing some kind of sport. If employment and finances do not allow, then it is possible three times a week for one hour.

In addition to playing sports, we suggest adding variety to your daily activities. You can, for example, refuse the elevator, leave public transport one or two stops before your own, after dinner, before going to bed, take a short walk.

In public transport, make way for those who really need it, and you yourself prefer to ride while standing. This will stretch the muscles and train the vestibular apparatus. In your spare time, get off the couch and go for a walk or bike ride.

In the event that this does not confuse the colleagues sitting in the office, then the exercise complexes can be performed during the day right at work. Standard approach, every 40-45 minutes. Perform a set of exercises for 5-7 minutes, this is the so-called. These exercises can help delay the onset of fatigue, increase productivity, and improve mood.

A sedentary lifestyle is the cause of many serious illnesses. But each of us is able to protect ourselves from ailments. The main thing is to stop being lazy.

Go in for sports, stick to proper nutrition and !

IN modern world, unfortunately, a very large percentage of people who lead a passive lifestyle and do not even know what this is fraught with for them. And you need to know the enemy by sight, because then serious consequences can be easily avoided.

What a sedentary lifestyle

The "mobility" of a person's way of life is calculated quite simply. If an individual moves for less than 30 minutes during the day, then, alas, such a lifestyle is inactive, and this is very dangerous for the health and even the vital activity of internal organs.

Causes of a sedentary lifestyle

The main apparent reason for a sedentary lifestyle has become technical progress. The advent of modern technology has almost completely eliminated the need for people to move (not counting workers who work exclusively physically). Office workers spend their entire working day at computers.

Plants are being automated as much as possible, and most workers only need to monitor the operation of modern equipment. Schoolchildren do not get bored at home with nothing to do, because now there is Wi-Fi throughout the apartment, and there is no reason to go for a walk in the yard even in sunny weather, and so on ...

The human body gets used to the constant lack of movement and literally loses its ability to burn a normal amount of calories and correctly, rationally use all the elements obtained during meals.

As you know, muscle mass does not disappear, but is hidden under fat, therefore, from the inability to burn extra calories, the body quickly gains fat mass, and then obesity appears, which is a serious test for the liver, kidneys and, of course, the heart, and the muscles themselves undergo dystrophy ... Even minimal physical activity with such problems will be given as difficult as possible.

Video: the effect of inactivity on the body

Did you know? It is quite simple to burn fat accumulated over the past year, but not many can say goodbye to the fat mass of past years. Fat tends to “grow stiff”, and the body considers it habitual, which prevents it from being easily removed.

Daily calorie intake per day while sitting

Calories- units that measure the amount of heat received by the body from assimilated food. To avoid the accumulation of excess fat in the human body, there is a certain rate of consumption of kilocalories per day for different categories of people (the rate depends on gender, age, lifestyle).

So, the required number of kilocalories for women who lead a passive lifestyle:

19-25 years old - no more than 2000 kcal / day;
26-50 years old - 1800 kcal / day;
51 years and more - 1600 kcal / day.

Calories Needed to Maintain Normal Body Fat men:

19-30 years old - 2400 kcal / day;
31-50 years old - 2200 kcal / day;
51 years and more - no more than 2000 kcal / day.

Important! Even if you need to lose weight, you can not consume less than 1200 calories per day. Such experiments can lead to diseases of the gallbladder, as well as to disruption of the heart.

A sedentary lifestyle: health implications

The consequences of a sedentary lifestyle can be quite serious, because the entire human body takes part in such "inaction".

So, the resulting hypodynamia can cause the following consequences:

obesity (at an early stage - the growth of the "beer belly" in men);
prostatitis and loss of potency in men;
osteochondrosis and other problems with the spine;
sciatica and;
constipation;
problems with the cardiovascular system;
liver problems;
urolithiasis disease.

The list of consequences is not complete, because the body of each person reacts in its own way to the way of life.

Sedentary benefits of physical activity

The need for physical activity in modern society is clear. No wonder they say: movement is life. And when spending most of the day in a sitting position, muscle training is all the more necessary.

Scientists have calculated that a simple two-minute activity for each hour of work... Firstly, the legs will not get numb; secondly, additional calories are wasted; thirdly, the muscles will stretch and even the head will become "lighter". Such activity will prevent the appearance of stagnation in the tissues, improve blood circulation and normalize breathing.

In order to avoid life shortening due to an inactive lifestyle, doctors strongly recommend adding at least 2-3 hours of non-intense training to your regular week. In this case, none of the above ailments threaten.

Exercises for sedentary people

Many large office companies have long developed special exercises and allocated time for employees, during which people can break away from their desks and do some simple exercises to warm up their tired body.

In domestic companies, this experience is not common, but this is not a reason to show indifference to your body.
Let's look at a few simple exercises that you can use to warm up without leaving your workplace. Before performing this complex, it is advisable to "warm up" the body. To do this, you need to walk at a brisk pace for several minutes, or walk a couple of floors back and forth.

"Elastic buttocks"

We sit on the edge of the chair, tilt the body slightly forward.
We put our relaxed hands on the table.
We tighten the buttocks and raise the body a few centimeters, hold the pelvis in this position for a few seconds.
We perform 10-15 repetitions, each time the load can be increased.

"Beautiful breasts"

We sit on the edge of the chair, straighten our back.
With our hands we "hug" the armrests of the chair so that the arms are on the outside.
We squeeze the elbows, mentally trying to press the armrests to the body, squeeze the tense elbows for 8-10 seconds.
Perform 10-15 repetitions, the load can be increased.

"Steel press"

We sit on a chair: the back is straight, the buttocks are tense.
We take a deep breath, while exhaling we draw in the stomach.
We perform at least 50 repetitions, making sure that breathing is even.

"Down with the belly!"

We sit on a chair: the back is straight, the body is slightly forward, the arms are back or to the sides, the knees are together.
Slowly with effort we raise our knees up to the chest. Perform 20-30 reps (abdominal muscles should be tense).

"Biceps like u"

We stand near the table: the back is straight, the press is tense.
We grab the edge of the table with our hands and mentally try to raise it, straining our arms (biceps).
Repeat the exercise 15-20 times, the load can be increased.

"Strong arms"

We stand with our backs to the table, bending our elbows, rest our palms on the surface of the table.
We put our legs forward and try to squat, focusing on our hands (reminiscent of an exercise on the uneven bars).
We carry out 10-15 times, the load can be increased.

"Warm-up for feet"

Sitting on a chair, raise the sock as much as possible towards yourself and back.
Make circular movements in one direction and the other.
Take off your shoes and roll a thick marker or glue stick on the floor.

"Slender calves"

Stand behind a chair, your back is straight, you can hold on to the back without shifting the weight on your hands.
We rise on our toes and linger in this position for 5-7 seconds.
We perform 20-30 repetitions.

Video: Workplace Exercise

Important! If, with each exercise performed, you feel the work and a little fatigue of the necessary muscles, you are doing everything right.

Sedentary diet

In order for the body to receive the required amount of calories and have time to burn everything, you need to follow several:

you need to eat at the same time... Your eating schedule plays a very important role in losing weight. The body must know at what time it receives the necessary micronutrients, and this schedule must be followed impeccably. And any failure is a big stress for the stomach and the body as a whole;
less portion - more snack... Ideally, the number of meals should be 5-7 times a day, that is, the body should constantly feel a little hunger (in no case, not starvation or severe oversaturation). The secret is a small plate, into which fewer products fit, but looks voluminous and satisfying. The first couple of days will be difficult, but the stomach will quickly get used to it;

eliminate unnecessary junk food... Pizza, fast food, sweets, smoking and other harmful products do not bring any benefit anyway, and with a sedentary lifestyle, they are completely tantamount to death. You can pamper yourself with something tasty once a month, but there must be a reason for this, for example, an important report completed on time.

So, a sedentary lifestyle in itself is not a sentence, and this does not mean that a person will definitely suffer from obesity or heart disease if certain rules are followed. Every day, sitting at the computer for a long time, we shorten our life, but we have only one. It is imperative to do simple exercises and eat right. In this situation, a passive lifestyle will not adversely affect health.

A sedentary lifestyle has become commonplace. With the development of digital technologies and the emergence of a huge number of home-based jobs that require only a computer and the Internet, the phrase “sedentary lifestyle” has become applicable to thousands of remote workers. Office positions are no less dangerous in this regard. How does inactivity affect our health? How can you avoid the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle if you cannot completely abandon it? You will find answers to these and other equally important questions in our article.

What lifestyle is considered sedentary?

Inactivity or physical inactivity is a violation of the body's activity due to insufficient physical activity or lack of it.

The problem of a sedentary lifestyle arose as a result of scientific and technological progress, urbanization, the spread of communication tools that simplified our life and replaced active recreation (walks, outdoor games).

Determining whether you are “active” or “sedentary” is very simple. If you are not actively moving for at least half an hour during the day, it is considered sedentary. Active movements mean walking, running, exercise.

Cleaning and doing normal household chores is not considered an activity. During their implementation, the necessary load is not created on the muscles of the body. When we work around the house, we do wrong postures that leave many muscle groups unused.

What does a sedentary lifestyle lead to, how is it dangerous?

The consequences of a sedentary lifestyle are far more dangerous than most people think. This is a deterioration in the quality of life and a reduction in its duration.

If you spend 8 hours sitting at your workplace every day and prefer a car ride instead of walking home, you risk living 15-17 years less than those who sit less than 3 hours a day and try to actively move.

Why is a sedentary lifestyle dangerous? Judge for yourself!

The first to suffer from immobility is the heart muscle. The lack of active physical movements and cardio loads forces the heart to make less productive contractions, which significantly reduces the tone of the vascular walls.
Spine. Sitting, we load it almost twice as much as when we stand or walk.
Deterioration of blood circulation in the brain provokes dizziness, tinnitus, fatigue, and a decrease in work productivity.
Inactive muscles lose their tone. This leads to rapid physical fatigue, apathy, and a feeling of constant fatigue.
Low mobility leads to. Blood moves more slowly through the body and does not sufficiently saturate cells with oxygen and nutrients.
Long sitting in one place provokes stagnation of blood and lymph in the small pelvis, negatively affecting the work of the intestines and the genitourinary system.

How does a sedentary lifestyle affect the body from the inside?

Everyday sitting in the office, in transport, at home at the dinner table or on the sofa watching the TV negatively affects not only posture and muscle tone, but also provokes the development of a wide range of diseases.

Diseases of the musculoskeletal system

Those whose work is closely related to sitting at a computer suffer from lumbar and cervical osteochondrosis. Most often, the localization of cervical osteochondrosis is right-sided, since the right hand works with a computer mouse, writes, performs other actions.

Also, "adherents" of a sedentary lifestyle often have intercostal neuralgia, lumbago, sciatica, dizziness and headaches.

Diseases of the cardiovascular system

Slow blood circulation provokes the development of venous insufficiency (varicose veins), thrombosis. The heart suffers without proper stress. The heart muscle "gets used" to work at half strength, disrupting the general state of the circulatory system in the body, from which all organs suffer. The likelihood of strokes and heart attacks increases. Life expectancy is reduced.

Overweight

Lack of physical activity, non-observance of the principles of a healthy diet, stress are factors leading to weight gain. Sitting in the office, we spend fewer calories than we consume, which gives rise to "beer" bellies, "breeches" in the hips, and increases body weight.

According to the forecasts of the medical weekly magazine "The Lancet" by 2025, 20% of the world's population will be overweight, including because of a sedentary lifestyle.

Constipation and hemorrhoids

Violation of intestinal motility, provoked by immobility during the day, leads to chronic constipation. Constipation, in turn, causes another unpleasant disease - hemorrhoids.

If you have prerequisites for constipation, do not let them go into the chronic stage. Warm up, regularly change the position in which you are sitting, pump the abs, massage the abdomen, watch your diet. This will significantly reduce the likelihood of hemorrhoids.

Consequences of a sedentary lifestyle

Sitting at a desk, couch, or dining table for long periods of time is of no use to anyone. Doctors share the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle for men and women.

For men

A sedentary lifestyle negatively affects the prostate. Violation of blood circulation and stagnation of blood flow and lymph in the pelvic organs leads to prostatitis, which, in turn, leads to a decrease in potency. Already today, there is a large number of infertile couples due to poor sperm motility and prostatitis. In addition to sexual problems, men leading a sedentary lifestyle are often worried about hemorrhoids.

For women

The same reason - stagnation in the small pelvis - provokes violations in the genital area in women and becomes the cause of uterine pathologies (polyps, endometriosis), as well as painful menstruation.

A general deterioration in well-being against the background of a sedentary lifestyle and frequent stress causes hormonal disorders, mastopathy, ovarian cysts, and menstrual irregularities.

Very detailed, simple and clear about this in the video:

How to avoid the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle?

Even with a clear understanding of the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, you are unlikely to be able to completely get rid of it. Not to quit a promising job in a good office or clients gained by many years of freelance work? And far from everyone has the opportunity to get to work on foot to compensate for the harm of eight hours of sitting.

What to do? Exercise, nutritional adjustments, and little tricks you can use in your workplace today can help reduce the negative effects of sitting in the workplace.

Physical activity + exercises that can be done right in the workplace

Try to change your body position every 15-20 minutes. Get up from the table more often to stretch, make a couple of bends to the sides, stretch your legs. So the blood in the body will circulate normally.

Exercises you can do while sitting at a table:

Sit back and straighten your legs. Bend and unbend your knees 10-15 times each.
Straighten your leg, stretch your toe and perform circular movements with the ankle 10-15 times on each leg.
Slowly rotate your head clockwise and counterclockwise 5 times.
With cervical osteochondrosis, it is advisable not to make rotational movements of the head. Instead, stretch your arms out to the sides and try to reach your left shoulder with your right hand, bringing your right hand behind your head. Do this 15-20 times with one and the other hand, and then 15-20 times with both hands at the same time. Pull the crown of your head up. Try not to tilt your head forward.
Do 10 shoulder rotations back and 10 forward.
Tighten and relax the muscles of the buttocks 20-25 times.
Sitting on a chair, alternately raise and lower the right and left hand 10-15 times.
Press one palm against the other and press firmly with your palms against each other. Keep your palms tense several times for 10-15 seconds.
Squeeze and unclench your fingers. Stretch with your fingers together.
Lower your arms along your body, relax them for a few seconds, shake them with your brushes.
Move the chair back, lean forward and bring the shoulder blades together as much as possible. Repeat several times.
Sit on the edge of a chair, straighten and draw in your stomach for a few seconds. Do it at least 50 times.
Tear off the socks and heels of your feet one by one.
Lift your shoulders up as you inhale and "throw" them sharply down as you exhale.
Move away from the table, straighten your legs and try to reach as much as possible with your fingers to the toes of the shoes.
Take off your shoes and roll your glue stick or other round stationery on the floor.

Try to make this workout a "must-have" every day. Don't be afraid to confuse your work colleagues. Remember, preventing the problem is much better than dealing with it. Below is a video to help you have a clearer understanding of gymnastics right on the chair:

Don't forget about morning exercises. Let her become your faithful companion every morning. Table with exercises for morning exercises:

Download the list of exercises so as not to lose.

Food

In order not to gain excess weight, to always be full of strength and energy, it is important not only to maintain physical activity, but also to monitor nutrition. Sitting on a strict diet is not an option: since the body already suffers from a lack of activity and a slowed metabolism, strict dietary restrictions will not benefit it.

Four simple dietary guidelines for a sedentary lifestyle:

Follow your meal schedule. Eating at the same time disciplines, helps to plan working hours, taking into account the lunch break, and helps to maximize the absorption of nutrients and vitamins from food. All meals, even snacks, should be timed.
Eat smaller meals. Get up from the table with the feeling that you have not finished eating a little. The slight feeling that you are hungry is good for the body. Dull it with a healthy snack: banana, nuts, an apple, a mug of tea. There should be at least 5 total meals per day.
If you work in an office, remember to have breakfast at home. Breakfast is an important meal for the body. By skipping it, you break the entire diet.
Eliminate fast food from your diet. Pizza, burgers, buns, cakes and other sweets are contraindicated in a sedentary lifestyle. There are too many calories in them that you simply cannot spend by typing on the keyboard during the day.

If getting away from a sedentary lifestyle is not possible, make sure that it does as little harm as possible. Since you spend most of your time sitting at your workplace, consider how to keep yourself physically active while at work.

Three tips for setting up your workplace:

Remove excess items that might prevent you from stretching your legs under the table and stretching them during the day.
If possible, arrange snacks, tea and lunch not at your workplace, but in a special designated area of the office or in the kitchen. To do this, you, at least, get up from the chair and walk, plus you can stand by the window while drinking tea.
Get up out of your chair more often. Even required documents and objects at your arm's length, do not drive up to them in a chair and do not ask colleagues to hand them over, but get up and take them yourself.

Conclusion

A sedentary lifestyle in itself cannot be considered a sentence. Having to spend eight hours at the office does not guarantee that you will necessarily have obesity, hemorrhoids, or problems with the cardiovascular system. All this will not happen to you if you monitor your physical activity throughout the day and make it a rule to do exercises. Knowing what a sedentary lifestyle leads to, you will not let this phenomenon of modern life spoil your health.

Development modern technologies leads to the fact that a person spends most of the time in a sitting position - instead of walking a car, heavy physical work is performed by automated systems. And, unfortunately, few people give it due importance. And in vain, because a sedentary lifestyle negatively affects the work of all vital functions of the human body. This is what will be discussed in this article.

Consequences of a sedentary lifestyle

So, a sedentary lifestyle leads to such negative consequences:

Excessive body weight. The fact is that a person whose activities are related to sedentary work consumes more calories than they use up. Because of this, he gains an average of two to three kilograms a year.
An increase in blood glucose levels, which can lead to the development of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. This is especially true for those with a sweet tooth. After all, glucose received from the blood from the food consumed is absorbed much faster and easier during active physical exertion.
Failure of the gastrointestinal tract - difficult acts of defecation. For you to defecate easily, physical activity is imperative. Without this, the feces will stagnate in the rectum. The consequence of this manifestation may be the occurrence of hemorrhoidal cones.

In addition, the lack of proper activity leads to diseases of the joints, the entire musculoskeletal system, as well as the cardiovascular and nervous system.

How to stop the negative manifestations of a sedentary lifestyle?

If you cannot eliminate the causes of a sedentary life, then you will have to deal with the consequences, or rather, prevent them. Below we describe several ways that it is recommended to take for a daily habit.

Firstly, be sure to walk from work or go for an evening walk, give it 60 to 90 minutes. In addition to the fact that this walk will improve blood circulation, relieve stress on the joints, you will also get rid of problems with insomnia.

Secondly, balance your diet according to your calorie needs. Give up sweets. Replace them with dried fruits, no more than 50 grams per day, nuts, also up to 50 grams per day, since they are quite high in calories. Steam dishes, boil and bake, use sunflower oil to a minimum. Consume proteins, fats, and complex carbohydrates (cereals, bran bread, etc.). This will protect you from gaining excess body weight, improve digestion, and significantly reduce the risk of developing diabetes mellitus, a disease that ranks third in mortality in the world.

Thirdly, do exercises in the morning for ten to fifteen minutes. Agree, this does not take so much time, but all the muscles are flexed, the blood is saturated with oxygen. Plus, you will experience an incredible burst of energy.

As you can see, a sedentary lifestyle leads to a variety of negative consequences for the human body. But these consequences can be easily avoided by adopting a few of our recommendations.

If you want to prolong your beauty and be healthy - exercise, eat right and always be positive!

So, now we will tell you why a sedentary lifestyle is dangerous.

What is a sedentary lifestyle and how it is dangerous for the figure and health

Sedentary lifestyle (physical inactivity) - lack of regular physical activity. The most common cause of decreased activity is ordinary laziness, plus a lot of excuses that don't really exist.

Everyone can find at least 30-60 minutes for daily workouts, if someone says: "I have no time", or "I have a sedentary job, etc." is 100% self-deception.

Many people do not understand how dangerous the IOF is, for the majority, the lack of sports activities is just a trifle, but it seems only until the moment when a person does not face problems related to health and appearance, then it already becomes scary, so in order not to face the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle - start playing sports right now.

So, first, we will find out how physical inactivity affects health:

1. Insufficient oxygen supply, which in turn is the cause of such insidious ailments as: stroke, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, etc .;

2. Decrease in the level of lymph and blood flow in the body. This leads to an increase in bad cholesterol;

3. Slowdown, which is one of the causes of obesity and poisoning of the body with various toxic substances;

4. An increase in blood sugar levels, in connection with which diabetes may appear;

5. The aging process of organs is accelerated many times over;

6. Muscles become weak, stoop and many other problems with the spine appear;

7. It has been proven that a sedentary lifestyle can cause the development of malignant tumor formations;