Tip of the Week: Stand at Your Desk

This week’s tip: Stand up!

Have you heard that “sitting is the new smoking”? Sure, it seems a little extreme at first, but if you read up on the research, it’s true: too much sitting can correlate with major health risks. In an informative blog post, James A. Levine, MD, PhD (of the Mayo Clinic) outlines a variety of sound reasons why sitting too much is probably impacting your overall health. Too much sitting can cause:

• Sluggish nervous systems, which can lead to fatigue
• Weakened muscles, which can increase risk of back and joint pain
• Stagnant fat-burning enzymes, which can lead to weight gain
• Poor blood sugar and blood fat levels, which can increase heart risks

Fortunately, there is no nicotine involved in your sitting habit, so it’s pretty easy to quit! For many of us, our desk jobs are the major culprit for promoting our bad sitting habits. But there is a really easy solution: just stand up!