Your body's big enemy? Your sitting on it

Is it really true that sitting down for seven or eight hours a day is really leading to an earlier death? According to msnbc's Selene Yeager it is, by way of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

"Our bodies have evolved over millions of years to do one thing: move. As human
beings we evolved to stand upright. For thousands of generations, our
environment demanded nearly constant physical activity," says James Levine,
M.D., Ph.D, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

But thanks to technological advances, the Internet, and an increasingly longer work week, that environment has disappeared. You don't even need to be near a computer to receive an e-mail or check your facebook anymore, it is available on your cell phone. People can sit down to pay bills, shop online, and even keep in touch with friends. When you sit down for an extended period of time, your body starts to shut down, at the metabolic level. When your larger muscles, especially the ones in your legs become immobile, your circulation slows down and you burn fewer calories. Key flab-burning enzymes responsible for breaking down triglycerides simply start switching off. But it doesn't stop there, research shows that for every two hours you spend on your backside per day, your chance of contracting diabetes goes up 7 percent.

Spending a day on your rear is also bad for your posture and spine health.

"When you sit all day, your hip flexors shorten and tighten, while the muscles
that support your spine become weak and stiff." Said Douglas Lentz, a certified
strength and conditioning specialist.

I couldn't believe some of the statistics that were found throughout the article. But most of them are believable. I never would have thought that sitting down for so long could lead to so many conditions. It kind of makes me wonder how many hours I sit during a week.