Is sitting killing you? 

The research is in and if you sit for majority of your day, the results are not good!

Think about how many hours you actually sit throughout an average work day. Sitting in traffic, at work, during meals, an evening tv.

Besides common problems such as lower back pain and neck pain, the studies now show that sitting is linked to the common killers of our population.  Diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and certain cancers are a result from too much sitting and a sedentary lifestyle!

In a 2012 study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, researchers reported that people spent an average of 64 hours a week sitting. That's more than nine hours a day of sitting!

"Your body is designed to move," says Marc Hamilton, Ph.D., professor and director of the inactivity physiology department at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. "Sitting for an extended period of time causes your body to shut down at the metabolic level." When your muscles, especially certain leg muscles, are immobile, your circulation slows. So you use less of your blood sugar and you burn less fat, which increases your risk of heart disease and diabetes.

A study of 3,757 women found that for every two hours they sat in a given work day, their risk for developing diabetes went up seven percent, which means their risk is 56 percent higher on days they sit for eight hours. And a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology reports that a man who sits more than six hours a day has an 18 percent increased risk of dying from heart disease and a 7.8 percent increased chance of dying from diabetes compared with someone who sits for three hours or less a day.

Heart disease and diabetes aren't the only health hazards active couch potatoes face. The American Institute for Cancer Research now links prolonged sitting with increased risk of both breast and colon cancers. According to Alberta Health Services-Cancer Care in Canada, inactivity is linked to 49,000 cases of breast cancer, 43,000 cases of colon cancer, 37,200 cases of lung cancer, and 30,600 cases of prostate cancer a year.

Sitting and Inactivity Solutions:

1. Stand for breakfast and lunch

2. Park at the far end of the lot

3. Take mini standing breaks at work every hour

4. Try a standing desk at work or home

5. Conduct meetings standing

6. Take the stairs instead of the elevator

7. Take a walk at lunch

*Reminder: for every 2 hours of sitting you want to get a minimum of 10 minutes of movement. That's 40 minutes minimum for an 8 hour day at work.*