Here’s how sitting down deteriorates your health
26/02/2017
If you are one of those who love to sit at any given opportunity, you are at increased risk of anxiety, claims a new study.
Low energy activities, which include watching TV, working at a computer or playing electronic games, are called sedentary behaviour, and many studies have shown that such behaviour is associated with physical health problems like obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis.
However, this is the first systematic review to examine the relationship between anxiety and sedentary behaviour.
Anxiety affects more than 27 million people worldwide. It can result in physical symptoms, which amongst others, includes pounding heartbeat, difficulty breathing, tense muscles, and headaches.
Researcher Megan Teychenne said since their research has shown positive associations between sedentary behaviour and depressive symptoms, they had another foundation for further investigating the link between sedentary behaviour and anxiety symptoms. It was found in five of the nine studies that an increase in sedentary behaviour was associated with an increased risk of anxiety. In four of the studies, it was found that total sitting time was associated with increased risk of anxiety.
The evidence about screen time (TV and computer use) was less strong but one study did find that 36% of high school students that had more than two hours of screen time were more like to experience anxiety compared to those who had less than two hours. The link between sedentary behaviour and anxiety could be due to disturbances in sleep patterns, social withdrawal and poor metabolic health.
Prolonged sedentary behaviour, such as TV viewing, can lead to withdrawal from social relationships, which has been linked to increased anxiety.
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