Contrast this with our ancestors who spent much of their working time on the land or doing household chores (such as baling hay or hand washing clothes).  Going shopping would mean hooking up the horse to the carriage and driving to town holding the reins.

Over the past century there has been a large shift in the types of activities we do each day.  Our lives have become inactive for much of our waking time. The result is many of us are overweight simply because we sit too much.

Too much sitting is not good for our health
Being inactive for long periods of time is not healthy.  In fact, being inactive is associated with increases in chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis and some cancers.

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Researchers have found that prolonged television viewing, particularly lasting more than four hours a day, is associated with higher blood sugar levels, higher blood fat levels, larger waist circumference, and higher risk of *metabolic syndrome.

*Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors including too much abdominal fat (a large waist size), high levels of blood fats and sugar, and high blood pressure.

Sitting – A way of life?
For many of us, the majority of our waking hours are spent sitting at our desks at work or school, sitting in our cars in traffic, sitting at home (reading, watching TV, eating dinner etc). This time is sedentary time.

Most of us get a fair amount of light activity such as standing, walking to and from places indoors, doing light housework or light gardening. 

If we are committed to being active enough to make a difference to our health, we may do 30 – 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity most days of the week. Every day is best.

On average, most people spend half their waking day sedentary, that’s up to 8 hours!  Prolonged sitting has been engineered into our daily lives.

The design of our neighbourhoods, towns and cities has resulted in people spending huge amounts of time sitting in their cars and in rural areas, people spend even more time in their trucks or cars than those in the city.

In many workplaces, employees sit at their desks in front of computers most of the day. Some construction workers sit in big rigs pushing buttons all day. Bus drivers, pilots and train engineers also have sedentary jobs. What about your job – does it keep you moving?

Students in elementary and junior high schools are fairly active during their school day with physical education and the daily physical activity program. But what about when they go home? High school and university students are often stuck at their computers. We know that physical activity levels of kids decline as they get older - especially girls.    

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At home many of us relax or get our daily news fix by parking ourselves in front of the TV or computer.  We may recline in our favourite chair and read, or maybe just sit in the living room and chat with our families.

What we can do
An important step is recognizing that prolonged sitting can be a health risk. We need to take a closer look at what we are doing during our waking hours and realize that for the majority of our lives we are not very active.

We need to shift our focus from just trying to be active during our leisure time to being more active in our non-leisure time -  while we are at work or school or getting there.

Regular participation in moderate to vigorous physical activity AND reducing sitting time is what’s needed.

Even active, healthy people can benefit from breaking up their sedentary hours.  People in workplaces can try things like walking or biking to work, taking the stairs, or have walking meetings rather than sitting meetings.  It may be as simple as walking to a co-workers cubicle to talk to them, rather than sending another e-mail.

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We all need to be aware of how much time we spend sitting during the day.

While sitting is not a bad thing in itself, sitting for long periods may not be good for our health. We need to remember to get up and move around more each day.

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Learn More
Sitting Less: An Important Ingredient in our Recipe for Health
This Research Update article looks at the dangers of prolonged sitting.

Physical Activity @ Work
Tips and ideas for bringing physical activity into the workplace.

Canadian Council for Health and Active Living at Work
This FAQ section answers many questions about physical activity in the workplace.