Now I’ve heard everything!  This afternoon, one of my Pilates Fat Loss Formula clients, Peggy Peterson told me the latest news:  Sitting on your behind can actually be as unhealthy as smoking!

When I heard this finding, I had to look it up for myself.   Sure enough, it’s all over the news.  Check out this Healthwatch post from CBS News San Francisco…

Smoking cigarettes is the cause of so much preventable, deadly disease. But now new research shows sitting for long stretches of time may be just as dangerous.

“Smoking certainly is a major cardiovascular risk factor and sitting can be equivalent in many cases,” explained Dr. David Coven, cardiologist with St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York.

Dr. Coven said several new studies show prolonged sitting is now being linked to increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and even early death.

The fact of being sedentary causes factors to happen in the body that are very detrimental,” said Dr. Coven.  “When you sit for long periods of time; your body goes into storage mode, and when that happens, it stops working as effectively as it should. What’s worse, the more hours a day you sit, the greater your likelihood of developing one or more of these diseases, just as with smoking.

Linda Caufield has a desk job. She sits nearly seven hours a day. “I’m on the computer, I’m on the phone, I’m doing paperwork so all that stuff has to be done at my desk,” she said. Linda had no idea her desk was so deadly, noting how “sitting is probably killing me.”

Paul Golin says he was sitting up to eight hours a day. But after a recent heart health scare, he bought a “stand up” desk. It’s a contraption that rests on a treadmill. “I turn on the treadmill and walk for about an hour a day,” said Golin.

Golin’s measures may seem extreme but so are the consequences of sitting. Dr. Coven recommended to just get up and move when you can. “Any time you get the blood pumping, the blood moving, it stimulates the organs to do things that are healthier,” said Coven.

If you think that hour of cardio you do every day negates the effect of your desk job, think again.

A second study at the International Diabetes Institute in Melbourne concluded that even two hours of exercise a day would not compensate for “spending 22 hours sitting on your rear end”.

Professor David Dunstan told Australian Doctor magazine: “People who break up their sitting time – walking to a colleague rather than emailing him, for instance – have a lower risk of diabetes.”

So get up at the office at any chance you get, don’t send emails when you can deliver the message in person, take the stairs, stand up when you take a phone call. And don’t forget to take your breaks, and take a walk.

Better yet, upload Pilates 1901’s  ” 8 Anytime Anywhere Work Break Stretches” Routine.

This  5 minutes could change your life  (and most certainly your day!)   Save to your desk top as a reminder to STRETCH!

And make Pilates, cardio, stretching and connection part of your week at Pilates 1901.

Now offering over 65 classes weekly to fit your busy schedules.   Call 913 499 7510 or sign up for a class online.