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What are the risks of a sedentary life?
Physical inactivity is a public health problem that affects thousands of people in the world, contributing as an important risk factor in the development of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
What is sedentary lifestyle?
A sedentary lifestyle is defined as physical inactivity, that is, when a person spends most of the time without doing any type of activity that involves the movement of their body.
On the other hand, the World Health Organization considers that.
A sedentary person is one who does not perform movements that can exceed more than 10% of the energy used while in a state of rest.
In addition to this, the same organization highlights that physical or sports activity are the movements carried out with the body, which require energy consumption.
What is the cause of a sedentary life?
Sedentary lifestyle is associated with people's lifestyle, it depends on the time available to exercise, among other factors.
Additionally, another cause is the distance from the location to practice physical activity or the absence of green areas near the home to be able to play sports.
Likewise, another large group of people who suggest a cardiovascular risk are older adults, since at this age muscle and joint pain can occur that can make movement impossible.
So, these people prefer to rest the joint and the muscles before doing any physical activity.
Characteristics of sedentary life
A person without sports habits, over time can develop discomfort in the body, which are signs that physical inactivity is prolonged.
In general, people who do not practice any activity and do not eat in a healthy and balanced way, tend to gain weight easily, leading to obesity.
Likewise, all the weight they acquire is not from muscle mass, but from adipose tissue, which is why they have a loss of muscle mass, which affects the appearance of important metabolic diseases.
Also, sedentary people are prone to hormonal imbalances, mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression.
However, when the pathology has already been established, other symptoms may adhere that warrant monitoring and medical treatment.
How to identify that I have a sedentary life?
Fortunately, you do not require a comprehensive evaluation to determine the presence of a sedentary lifestyle in your life.
The following data will help you identify if you really spend a lot of hours inactive.
You spend most of the time without expending energy with your movements, for example, you spend many hours of the day watching television, surfing the Internet, among others.
You work or play on a computer for hours.
You tire easily when walking short distances.
What are the risks and consequences of sedentary lifestyle?
The risks of an inactive lifestyle are the diseases that can appear and, of course, the consequences are the same effects of pathologies on the body.
In this way, both in children and adults the risks are similar, some of them are.
Risks of sedentary lifestyle in the child population
Progressive weight gain.
Difficulty to sleep.
Cardiovascular, metabolic and respiratory problems.
Risk of sedentary lifestyle in the adult population
Greater probability of morbidity and mortality with cardiovascular (acute coronary syndrome) and metabolic (type 2 diabetes mellitus) diseases.
In addition, the morbidity is not only from the diseases already mentioned, but from any pathology.
Obesity and sedentary lifestyle
Obesity is a diagnosis, apart from being a risk factor for many diseases. For this reason, it is essential to prevent its establishment.
Sedentary lifestyle is closely linked to obesity and both have a similar therapeutic pillar, physical activity.
A sedentary and obese person needs periodic studies, in order to verify the existence of any morbidity.
Thus, physical activity together with changes in lifestyle, help both to reduce weight, improve blood pressure and, with this, end sedentary lifestyle and obesity.
WHO recommendations for physical activity in adults
An adult person between the ages of 18 and 64 requires daily exercise to reduce cardiovascular and metabolic risk.
Likewise, the benefits you enjoy from an active life are as follows.
Prevention of high blood pressure and other heart diseases.
Decreased incidence of cancer.
Prevents anxiety and depression.
Conciliatory night dream.
In relation to the foregoing, the WHO recommendations are.
Exercise at least 3-5 hours a week.
Aerobic exercise with moderate intensity is recommended.
Also, they advise between 1 and 5 hours of intense aerobic exercise weekly.
Both modalities can be merged, the important thing is that you organize the week and be able to do at least one hour of physical activity.
Perform strength / weight exercises to improve muscle mass, at least two days a week.
For its part, the WHO suggests to the adult population, has to reduce leisure times, in which they are only lying down or sitting for hours.
It is worth mentioning that any physical activity is valid, you do not necessarily have to go to a gym, since changes in your daily routine can make a difference.
In addition to this, if you live in a building instead of using the elevator, use the stairs, if you must go out close to home, do not go by car, but walk. These and other measures you can implement to have a more active life.
Finally, for adults over 64 years of age, it is recommended about 5 hours a week of physical exercise and 3 separate days for combined exercises, that is, aerobic and strength activity.
Physical activity is a factor that prevents a wide range of metabolic and heart diseases.
In the same way, it has a positive impact on mental health, because it improves performance and quality of sleep, as well as preventing diseases such as depression.
On the other hand, an active lifestyle helps you to have weight control, to avoid extreme variations, such as obesity.
