We Are Sitting Ourselves to Death
- Aug 3
- 2 min read
“Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV, and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.”
co-director of the Mayo Clinic
and the Arizona State University Obesity Initiative
Is sitting the new smoking? What does that mean?
Sitting disease is an informal term for the cluster of health problems linked to spending too much of your day in a chair. Sitting puts millions of people at increased risk for chronic disease and other metabolic dysfunction. That includes things like type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and even some cancers.
Physical activity has gradually been removed from our routines as technology has made daily life more convenient -- and as AI advances, it's going to be worse, much worse.
The core issue isn’t that you skip the gym. It’s because your body’s basic metabolic processes slow down when your muscles stay inactive for hours at a time. We’ve slowly engineered physical activity out of our lives. Even in transportation, people are choosing the easiest way to get from point A to point B just to avoid moving. Whether it’s electric scooters, escalators, or online food delivery, we have fewer built-in reasons to move.
It took nature 2 million years to design the walking, dynamic human, and it took those humans 200 years to reverse the art of nature and cram people all day long into chairs.”
Just as we are not going to eat our way to health, we are not going to stand or sit our way there either. Incorporating more movement into your day is simple but requires a commitment to moving more, and the commitment, rather than the activity, is the greatest hurdle.
Social isolation is a growing epidemic, world-wide
Health care providers have identified that SOCIAL ISOLATION related to inactivity may have an even greater impact on your lifespan. Their advice is straightforward: GET OUT THERE, get involved, spend time outdoors, meet new people, stay active, disconnect from your devices, connect with nature, and consider taking a break or even unsubscribing from social media.
