Get Up, Stand Up, Stand Up for Your Health

(Apologies to Bob Marley for that post title.)

This morning one of my patients said that when he gets up from his chair, his legs are always stiff and sore.

I asked him how long he has to be sitting for this to happen.

"Not very long at all," he said.

I then asked him how much time he spends each day in a chair.

"Not long," he said, "maybe about five hours."

I asked, "So on an average day, out of eighteen hours when you're awake, you're on your feet walking and standing thirteen hours?"

He paused and thought.  "I guess not."

How about you?  Try adding up your daily chair-time in your head right now.  All of it-- time in the car, at the table, in front of the computer, watching TV, the office... all of it.

That number that you come up with, as it was with my patient, is probably a bit unexpected. Most of us, at first thought probably underestimate greatly just how much we plant our butts in a chair or sofa.  But why is it important to keep track of how much we sit and limit the time spent in a chair?

An article from Men's Health explains it perfectly.

The amount of time you exercise and the amount of time you spend on your butt are completely separate factors for heart-disease risk. New evidence suggests, in fact, that the more hours a day you sit, the greater your likelihood of dying an earlier death regardless of how much you exercise or how lean you are. That's right: Even a sculpted six-pack can't protect you from your chair.

So get on up.  Stand and stretch.

Like, right now.