Why sitting is the new smoking | ABS-CBN

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Why sitting is the new smoking

Why sitting is the new smoking

Dennis Gasgonia,

ABS-CBN News

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Too much sitting, whether on your couch or office chair, is bad for your health.

In fact, it contributes to a sedentary lifestyle, which in turn creates health problems such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

“Over in Europe, the governments realized that people are way too sedentary,” said Samantha Clayton, a former Olympian and current director of Herbalife Fitness Education. “So they created a campaign slogan saying that sitting is the new smoking.”

“When people first started smoking, it was promoted. They never knew the health detriments of smoking until years later.”

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It’s the same with sitting, said Clayton, who represented Great Britain in the 2000 Sydney Olympics in both the 200m race and the 4×100 meter relay.

“Overweight is at the highest rate, sitting down has a lot to do with that. People having joint issues, upper back issues, neck issues from leaning down and looking at their computers,” she said.

Technology has a lot to do with the penchant for sitting, too.

“The evolution of technology has enhanced how people sit. Even now we're not grocery-shopping anymore, we just do it online. I guess what they discovered is they called sitting as the new smoking is they kind of want to wake people up to realize that 10-16 years into the technology boom and now we're realizing what happens to peoples' bodies,” said Clayton.

Even the Department of Health (DOH) cited that cardiovascular disease, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes are among the top killers in the Philippines. They are labelled as lifestyle-related diseases, particularly because these illnesses have common risk factors that are to a large extent related to an unhealthy lifestyle.

This is why maintaining an active lifestyle is important, said Clayton.

"My mission is to help people get healthier, happier and help people to keep moving and active," she said.

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