Daily exercising has been recommended for to prevent health risks. It helps avoid sedentary lifestyle and keeps the body active and properly functional. Many health risks are associated with sitting for 8 hours long at stretch which is a form of sedentary living. It is highly recommended and necessary to engage in aerobic demanding activity to engage the body after about 6-8 hours long of sitting. These activities or exercise can be as simple as possible such as standing up to walk around after long-sitting.
This could be achieved at home, work or even travelling. Walking to counter the effect of long sitting should be done in a brisk manner for better effectiveness and result (functional output). It can come in the form of taking the stairs, walking down the road, strolling on the street, walking through the field etc. all these activities help offset (counter) the risks the prolonged sitting.
Sitting for long can also increase the risk of heart disease; scientists have proven that increasing evidence of physical inactivity is a major risk factor for developing several diseases, health conditions and even early death. It is good for us all to thrive at increasing the levels of our daily activity as an individual. Increase in income and a high socio-economic class has a way of encouraging sedentary lifestyle and body inactivity as it reduces their walking hours and increases their sitting hours in driving, watching television or sitting at the office/in meetings. It is recommended by the current physical activity guidelines that every adult should engage in at least 150 mins of moderate intensity of exercise per week.
Enough physical activity reduces or even eliminates the risks and chances of early death associated with sitting down. 60-75 minutes of moderate exercising per day is sufficient to eliminate or reduce the risks of early death associated with sitting down for over eight (8) hours per day. It is quite demanding and challenging to achieve this daily exercise limit but conscious effort should be made to ensure its compliance. Lack of physical activity is still however a greater health risk than prolonged sitting for more than 8 hours.
To avoid sitting for too long and sedentary lifestyle, people should rather engage in brisk walking activity. This could be performed alone or in company of a partner or even friends. Although there might be no way to prevent prolonged sitting particularly for people with office-based jobs; it is therefore of high necessity and very important to properly manage the situation with brisk walking 8 hours intermittently particularly at lunchtime or during breaks.
