World Health Organization predicts there will be 2.3 billion overweight adults in the world by 2015 and more than 700 million of them will be obese.



Studies show that excess body weight is pandemic, approximately two-thirds of the worlds population being overweight or obese. One of the factors contributing to these statistics is a trend towards decreased physical activity both at work and in our leisure activities. Around 75% of work in industrialized countries is performed while sitting and chair time is now considered an insidious health hazard.

With the automation of daily chores, motorized transportation and inactive leisure time spent watching a screen of some description the amount of idle sitting time spent over the 16 hour period that people are awake each day has dramatically increased. Our modern lifestyles allow the almost total avoidance of any meaningful physical activity as technology has made prolonged sitting common place during work, domestic, and recreational activities.

Scientists have discovered that prolonged sitting has profoundly negative effects on fat and cholesterol metabolism with these processes virtually shutting down after only 30 odd minutes of sitting. The fat-absorbing enzyme lipase normally breaks down fat from the bloodstream which is then absorbed into the muscles as fuel reserves.

The inactivity of prolonged sitting shuts down the circulation of lipase leaving fat in the blood stream to re-circulate and become stored as body fat or to clog arteries. It is no surprise that numerous studies have shown that people who sit a lot have two and three times the rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and have a higher death rate than those that do not sit much. In fact, the impact of inactivity caused by extended periods of sitting is now estimated to be as bad for your health as smoking.

Research has found that those who had high daily levels of sitting (7.4 hours or more) were significantly more likely to be overweight or obese than those who reported low daily sitting levels (less than 4.7 hours a day).

What to do about this? If you work seated and spend your leisure time seated it is crucial that you have in place a proper exercise program that contains mostly strength training exercise. This should be performed a minimum of twice per week along with a couple of interval training sessions which can be done at the same time or on separate days.

Seek the help of a fitness professional to set up your program and teach you correct exercise technique. You also need to be shown how to exercise at the correct level of intensity to ensure results and no wasted time doing ineffective "too easy" movements.

During your work day it would also be a good idea to stand up every 30 minutes or so and just do a minute or two of some simple bodyweight squats, wall push ups or other simple exercises which will engage the muscles to help circulate blood and oxygen around the body keeping systems and processes from slowing down.

These little "movement" breaks to interrupt sustained sedentary time would help avoid the increased health risks of added body fat and altered triglyceride (fats) and glucose levels. Even standing up uses blood glucose and reduces the chances of becoming overweight.

If you sit for long periods you can balance this situation with increased activity levels now that you are aware of the need for this. Don't let a low level of activity become a danger to your health and well-being. Make it a habit to get up and move around as often as possible.