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What are you doing right now? You are reading this article, but what is your body’s posture? Are you at your desk? Sitting on a chair or sofa? Or, are you reading while standing?
If you’re sitting, you may be increasing the likelihood that you are thinning your medial temporal lobe and its substructures. These brain parts are thought to be essential for memory, so prolonged sitting may be associated with cognitive decline.
A recent UCLA study using MRIs found that prolonged sitting in middle-aged adults is associated with brain atrophy. The relationship between sitting and brain atrophy is independent of physical activity.
In other words, even vigorous exercise won’t compensate for long periods of sitting. Fortunately, it may be possible to improve brain health with less drastic measures.
In addition to brain atrophy, prolonged sitting may increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. A Cooper Clinic study tracked 7,700 men and found that 23 or more hours of sedentary behavior each week was associated with a 64 percent increase in cardiovascular mortality.
Although most of us spend hours with our bottoms firmly planted on a surface, it wasn’t always this way. Chairs didn’t become commonplace in the West until the seventeenth century. The start of large scale manufacturing of chairs can be traced back to 1818.
In many parts of the world, sitting is less frequent than in the U.S. In Japan squatting or kneeling on the ground is common. When I was in India, I was surprised to see a gentleman squatting on the ground rather than sitting in a nearby chair while reading his newspaper.
Squatting may not be a viable solution to the hazards of prolonged sitting, especially at work, but standing should help. Changing your posture causes a redistribution of blood throughout the body, which results in an increase in the blood supply to the brain.
If you work at a desk all day you could get a height-adjustable desk. Also, look at your work routine to see how you can break up sitting.
You could go down the hall to use the copier or walk around the office while making a phone call. Just make sure to get up every half hour. Even if you’re at home relaxing or watching a Netflix movie, get up every 30 minutes.
Whether at work or home it might help to set the timer on your smartphone to remind you that it’s time to stand. Just keep in mind that the act of standing only uses 12 calories so make sure that standing doesn’t result in a detour to the refrigerator or vending machine to get a snack.
