Sitting Yourself to Death?
Nearly 70 percent of Americans who don’t regularly exercise need to start moving!
“Everyone knows exercise is good for them, but many don’t realize it’s a matter of life and death,” says Professor Frank Booth, PhD, who teaches biomedical science at the University of Missouri-Columbia. “My father was in advertising, so I know how important a short, catchy name is to grab people’s attention and change the way they think and behave. Running always helps my creativity, and the name Sedentary Death Syndrome just popped into my head.”
Sedentary Death Syndrome (SeDS) may be a little too scientific to be catchy. But it needs to catch on. Because what it means, says Booth, is that “inactivity kills.”
Dead Man Sitting
In fact, sitting kills more than 300,000 Americans annually. If it were a real disease, that would make SeDS the third leading cause of death in the US, right after heart disease and cancer. But SeDS is more than one disease. Being sedentary is linked to a wide range of debilitating ailments–from diabetes and depression to osteoporosis, certain cancers, and even sexual dysfunction. It affects nearly three out of four adults and a growing number of children and is projected to cost the US $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years.
Of course, you know what it is: moving. All it takes is 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week to significantly reduce the risk of SeDS’ 35 conditions listed by RID. These range from potential killers–such as heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and breast, colon, and pancreatic cancers–to disabling conditions such as arthritis pain, menopausal symptoms, physical frailty, osteoporosis, and digestive problems.Think of inactivity as the exercise equivalent of smoking. Only worse. One 2002 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that being sedentary and out of shape may be more hazardous than other well-known risk factors, such as smoking, hypertension, and heart disease.
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