| Your parents were right, say researchers. Sitting | | | | fact, exercise for 30 minutes every day and still be |
| around watching television and surfing the Internet is | | | | susceptible to developing high cholesterol, heart |
| potentially dangerous for your health. But it is not the | | | | disease and obesity-if one spends much of the rest |
| television or the Internet that is to blame, say | | | | of the day sitting. (Hamilton's research indicated that |
| experts. It is the sitting. A number of studies have | | | | those who sat showed a 22 percent reduction in |
| now confirmed that sitting and poor health are linked | | | | their "good" cholesterol). Lipase "shuts off" when |
| in a subtle but insidious manner. | | | | your body (in essence) shuts off, say researchers. In |
| Sitting and Poor Health | | | | order to mobilize the fat-absorbing components of |
| In a recent study, researchers at the University of | | | | lipase, therefore, one needs to (at least) stand. |
| Queensland found a link between the amounts of | | | | Health Benefits of Standing |
| time that subjects spent watching television and the | | | | Besides activating lipase, standing has a number of |
| levels of blood glucose and blood cholesterol in their | | | | other advantages over sitting. Standing, say experts: |
| bodies. This held true even if the individuals engaged | | | | - Improves circulation |
| in regular physical exercise and after such variables as | | | | - Strengthens the muscles of the legs and the back |
| obesity were considered. Further, the researchers | | | | - Aligns the body thus preventing pain |
| found that an enzyme called lipase seems to be | | | | - Burns more calories (an estimated 60 additional |
| responsible for the link between sitting and poor | | | | calories are burned per hour-simply by standing). |
| health. | | | | - Reduces damage to the muscles, ligaments, and |
| Lipoprotein lipase is the body's natural fat absorber | | | | discs of the back. Due to poor posture issues, many |
| that works only when one stands, says lead | | | | individuals suffer from such back injuries during |
| researcher Neville Owen. While standing, lipase | | | | periods of "leisure sitting." (Source: Neck Solutions) |
| promotes the absorption of fat and cholesterol into | | | | Tips for Absorbing Fat-the Lipase Way |
| the muscles. When one sits, however, lipase "shuts | | | | The results of these studies-and the now proven |
| off" which causes the fat to circulate in the blood | | | | mechanism of lipase-is bad news for the estimated |
| until it comes to rest on ones' stomach or hips (as | | | | 75 percent of people who sit during the majority of |
| fat) or settles in the arteries leading to heart disease. | | | | their workdays. But there are, say experts, some |
| This study proves that sitting and poor health are | | | | steps that one can take to maximize the |
| linked and are, indeed, an "insidious" danger, according | | | | fat-absorbing power of lipase. |
| to Dr. Marc Hamilton. | | | | Avoid the Chair |
| Biomedical Research | | | | Dr. Hamilton recommends that one "avoid the chair" |
| Hamilton, professor of biomedical sciences at the | | | | whenever possible. While watching your children |
| University of Missouri, recently told Ivanhoe News, | | | | play-stand. While watching television at home-stand. |
| "[c]hair time is an insidious hazard because people | | | | While talking on the phone-stand. Frequent standing, |
| haven't been told it's a hazard." Hamilton has studied | | | | says Hamilton, will switch "on" lipase more often. |
| the fat-absorbing mechanism of lipase and said that, | | | | Take "Stand Breaks" |
| "if you can perform a behavior while sitting or | | | | If you work at a desk job, Hamilton recommends |
| standing, I would choose standing." | | | | that you take frequent breaks throughout the day |
| Our primitive ancestors certainly chose standing over | | | | to stand, stretch, and to walk. One can even eat |
| sitting-their survival depended upon it. They were | | | | lunch standing up. All of these behaviors activate |
| hunters/gatherers who were constantly on the | | | | lipase. |
| move, searching for their next food source. | | | | Instead of Emailing-Walk the Message |
| Consequently, the body is designed for movement | | | | Professor Owen believes that work offices should be |
| and, when sedentary, it does not function as it | | | | redesigned so that more standing and walking is |
| should, particularly as concerns the suppression of | | | | encouraged. For instance, one should not email the |
| lipase. | | | | coworker in the next office, says Owen. One should |
| There are now, says Hamilton, many studies that | | | | walk the message over. The copier and the fax |
| show the negative link between sitting and poor | | | | machines should be in a room by themselves so that |
| heath. Moreover, many of these studies indicate a | | | | employees should walk to same as opposed to |
| heightened risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart | | | | simply swiveling their chairs around. |
| disease for those who spend a disproportionate | | | | Although it may be difficult to activate lipase if one |
| amount of time sitting. | | | | has a sedentary job, the effort to implement these |
| In his own research study, Hamilton took plasma | | | | (and other) slight modifications to ones' workday will |
| samples after his research subject ate a meal while | | | | be well worth the effort. It may reduce your |
| sitting. Then he took a plasma sample after the same | | | | chances of developing heart disease by increasing |
| subject ate the same meal while standing. When the | | | | your "good" cholesterol." It may reduce your chances |
| subject ate the meal while sitting, the plasma sample | | | | of developing diabetes by reducing blood glucose |
| was cloudy (fat). When the subject at the meal while | | | | levels. It may restore a "normal" weight to those |
| standing, the plasma sample was clear. This is | | | | who suffer from obesity, thereby diminishing the |
| dramatic proof that sitting and poor health are linked, | | | | many diseases that obesity causes. The positive |
| claims Hamilton. | | | | health effects of standing, experts say, may even |
| And it makes no difference how physically active you | | | | save your life. |
| are at other times, say researchers. One may, in | | | | |