Don’t take this health risk sitting down
(Because your chair is trying to kill you!)
If you were one of those kids that teachers were always telling to “sit still,” you’ll be glad to know that they were wrong. A flood of recent studies has shown that staying healthy and living longer means getting out of your chair and being more active throughout the day. Over the last sixty years, there have been fundamental changes in the way we Americans spend our days. Time spent watching TV increased dramatically in the 60s, home video games arrived in the 70s, home computers were introduced in the 80s, and affordable cell phones in the 90s. A recent Gallup poll found that Americans now average almost eleven hours a day in front of a screen; more than two-thirds of our waking hours. And most of that time is sedentary.
“The chair is out to kill us.” Dr. James Levine, M.D., Mayo Clinic endocrinologist
The research is pretty clear: sitting for hours a day is extremely hazardous to our health, with consequences comparable to those from cigarette smoking. The data is so compelling that many researchers now believe that our sedentary lifestyle is much more responsible for the growing health problems in the United States than our poor eating habits.
“Sitting is like a disease. The goal is to avoid prolonged sitting and to add any kind of physical activity to your day.” Dr. Edward Phillips, Harvard Medical School
Going to the gym won’t help
Studies show that even if you exercise regularly, it can’t undo the damage that prolonged sitting causes. One of these studies, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and involving a whopping 220,000 participants, was controlled for variables like age, smoking status, weight, etc., as well as for the amount of physical exercise people were getting. The study determined that people who sit for more than 8 hours a day have a 15% higher chance of “all-cause mortality” within three years than people who sit for less than 4 hours a day, and for people sitting 11 or more hours, the chance increases to 40%. It concluded, “Prolonged sitting is a risk factor for all cause mortality, independent of physical activity. Public health programs should focus on reducing sitting time in addition to increasing physical activity levels.” (Archives of Internal Medicine, 2012, Mar 26;172(6))
“Vigorous physical activity does not cancel out the impact of sedentary time. Even physically active people who spend a lot of their time being sedentary appear to have increased risk.” The American Heart Association
Though regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health, inactivity has a cumulative effect on the body that a daily workout can’t remedy. Just like eating vegetables is good for you, but it can’t undo the effects of smoking all day.
The modern office environment is a major contributor to this problem, which is why there’s been growing interest in finding effective alternatives to sitting behind a desk all day.
Standing desks aren’t the answer
The use of standing desks, which is becoming more and more popular, is an improvement over prolonged sitting, but not as much as people think. For one thing, standing itself can be sedentary. Though it offers some muscular engagement, which is good, it doesn’t provide movement, which is bad. Keep in mind that the damage done to your health from sitting isn’t due to the posture, but to the inactivity that goes along with it. Standing doesn’t activate your cardiovascular, muscular or lymphatic systems nearly enough to give your body the stimulation that it’s lacking. Also, standing for long periods has its own collection of adverse effects, such as stress on the lower back, body fatigue, swelling of the legs and an increased risk of varicose veins.
A research study conducted by the University of Exeter and University College London, lasting over 16 years and involving more than 5,000 participants, showed that it’s the inactivity, not sitting, that’s the problem with our health. One of the study’s authors, Dr. Melvyn Hillsdon, had this to say about their findings: “Our study overturns current thinking on the health risks of sitting and indicates that the problem lies in the absence of movement rather than the time spent sitting. Any stationary posture where energy expenditure is low may be detrimental to health, be it sitting or standing.”
We need to get moving
A recent Australian study showed that replacing two hours of sitting with standing only produced a slight improvement in blood sugar (2% lower) and cholesterol levels, whereas including movement while at a standing desk helped people to lose weight (11% lower Body Mass Index), trim up (7.5 cm smaller waist) and dramatically lower their blood sugar and cholesterol. (European Heart Journal, 2015, Oct.14)
The best way to fight the destructive effects of sitting during the workday is to either include short exercise breaks throughout the day or to add some physical activity while at your workstation. Our metabolism slows down 90% after 30 minutes of sitting, so we need to get some full-body activity at least every hour. This keeps our bodies from going into hibernation mode and moves the fat (triglycerides) and sugar (glucose) out of our bloodstream to our muscles, where they can be burned off.
“Exercise microbursts throughout the day can reduce fatigue and improve energy level and mood. Contrary to effects following a single continuous bout of activity, the effects of microbursts of activity were sustained throughout the day. [They] increase workers’ well-being and energy.” (International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2016,13:113)
The solution
So, is there an ideal solution for reversing the effects of prolonged sitting at work? Actually, there is, and it’s probably not one that you’d expect: mini-trampoline exercise. Exercising on a mini-trampoline offers an extraordinary range of benefits that make it uniquely suited for keeping you healthy and fit in an office environment. They’re also lightweight and portable and don’t require much space, so they can be used just about anywhere, even with a standing desk.
When it comes to building fitness, mini-trampoline exercise, also known as “rebounding,” is extremely effective. A study published in the International Journal of Sports Science in 2016 showed that, compared to running on a treadmill, rebounding exercise burned fat 50% faster and was more than twice as efficient at increasing cardiovascular fitness. Which is impressive. In a 2018 study, published in the German Journal of Sports Medicine, participants performed 19-minute rebounding workouts three times a week and reduced their body fat by 5.4% and made “significant improvements” in their aerobic capacity. This second study is even more impressive when you consider that the people involved were just getting 57 minutes of exercise a week, far below the 150 minutes a week that’s universally recommended, but they still significantly improved their fitness. Mini-trampolines may look like kid’s toys, but they can produce powerful, adult-strength fitness results.
Rebounding is also very effective at boosting health. The gravitational changes created by bouncing, along with the muscular engagement throughout the body, can dramatically increase lymphatic circulation, helping your body to rid itself of toxins, dead cells, and bacteria. Rebounding is also a vertical, weight-bearing exercise, the type that strengthens bones and fights osteoporosis, but being a low-impact exercise, it’s easy on joints and discs. Several studies have shown that it’s also great for improving balance and proprioception, which are critical for athletic performance, but even more important for helping older adults with fall prevention.
The best choice for the office
Remarkably, the best made, best-performing rebounder on the market also happens to be the most office-friendly. The bellicon mini-trampoline, which uses customized latex bungees for suspension instead of metal springs, tops the list as the perfect choice for the office. The bellicon’s unique design, exceptional performance, and German-engineered components have made it the industry standard of excellence for years, and the fact that it’s virtually silent, unlike noisy steel spring rebounders, means that it can be used in an office without disturbing co-workers.
The bellicon was the first mini-trampoline to use bungee cords for suspension, creating a bounce performance that’s not just quiet, but smoother, deeper and gentler on joints than traditional rebounders. The deeper bounce engages muscles more effectively and makes the exercise more productive, which is especially helpful when you’re trying to maximize the benefits of a short fitness break. It’s also exceptionally sturdy, but surprisingly light, so it’s easy to carry and easy to stow when not in use.
Most importantly, the bellicon is really fun to use, even more so than other rebounders, so you actually look forward to getting on it. This “enjoyability factor” is the sort of thing that’s particularly important for people trying to get back into the habit of exercising. The downside? It’s hard to keep coworkers off of it. Once people try it, they tend to get hooked, so be prepared to share. The upside? A few minutes on the bellicon throughout the day will give you everything you need to fight back against the very real dangers of inactivity while simultaneously improving your health and fitness.
Though I highly recommend rebounding as a remedy for inactivity in the workplace, any kind of exercise is always better than none. Be sure to break up your day behind the desk with activities that engage your whole body and get your heart rate up. It can make an enormous difference in your overall wellbeing with benefits that can last a lifetime.
If you’d like to learn more about bellicon mini-trampoline, you can visit their website at www.bellicon.com. The site also contains a lot of information about the benefits of rebounding exercise, so it’s worth exploring.
