DR. SYLVESTER IKHISEMOJIE FROM PUNCH
One of the true mysteries of the modern age is how sedentary our lives have become.
One of the true mysteries of the modern age is how sedentary our lives have become. There are studies which show that every succeeding generation of people of any race is only half as physically fit as its parents. This has become one of the defining health issues of our age as multiple studies now link more non-communicable diseases to the fact that we sit for many hours. This lack of physical activity is now known to be the precursor of loss of muscle mass, loss of bone density, progressive weight gain and deep vein thrombosis. The last aspect of the findings in particular is linked to the spectre of sudden death when the thrombus, which forms in the legs, can travel in the bloodstream to the brain and cause a blockage of any of the blood vessels and result in a stroke. Such formations can similarly travel to the lungs and cause fatal pulmonary embolism.
Like we have argued before on this page, our legs are made for walking, but modern living has made our legs less and less active to the extent that the typical employee, for example, gets out of bed in the morning and heads to the toilet, where they sit on the commode. Then they migrate from there to the dining table to take breakfast, after which they move into their cars for the long drive to the office. Once there, they sit at their desks for the entire working period from 8am to 4pm or even later. If they happen to take a break, that period is also spent in a fast-food restaurant, where more sitting takes place.
This has spurned a new term in the medical lexicon known as The Sitting Disease, a description of the range of effects that prolonged sitting can have on our overall health. These problems have been variously itemised to include diabetes, high blood pressure, formation of blood clots in the lower limbs and elsewhere in the body and the incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, itself a relatively new disease condition. All these problems, in addition to the ones already named in the paragraph above, constitute a significant threat to our overall health and life expectancy. The cumulative effects of these problems cannot be stressed too strongly. At the close of work and following the long hours sitting at our desks in the office, we take another long drive back home, perhaps take a shower and head to the dinner table before retiring to the sofa or couch for several more hours watching television. Home videos, Netflix and a variety of entertainment channels keep us engaged in the sitting position for several more hours in the early evening before we retire to bed. We wake up the following morning and continue the damaging cycle of activity. Such physical inactivity has now also been linked to depression, certain types of cancer and diminishing levels of physical fitness.
