Is it possible that simply by standing up you can make your belly disappear? While it won’t happen overnight, moving from a sitting position to a standing position has immeasurable health benefits. When combined with a healthy diet and regular exercise program, standing instead of sitting is a practice well worth undertaking.
Where Does Belly Fat Come From?
Call it your muffin top, your good buddy, your friendly fold, or what have you… it is your belly plain and simple. According to health experts this layers of subcutaneous fat around the midsection deserves no such endearing term. Belly fat is implicated in a number of lifestyle related health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and even cancer. Visceral fat (the type around your internal organs) is extremely dangerous. For men, a waist size of 37 to 40 is overweight and over 40 is considered obese. For women, 31.5 to 34.6 is considered overweight while anything over 34.6 is obese. A quick walk through the mall indicates that we Americans are in trouble if we measure our state of health by our bellies.
Standing vs. Sitting
Our ancestors did very little sitting. Chasing their dinner, fighting off wild animals, building their homes and tending their crops, generation after generation of Americans stood way more than they sat. The modernization of America has brought many great and worthwhile technologies, but some of these have helped to create a society of “sitters.” We no longer have to chase our dinner down or run from wild beasts. We live in a drive through culture where very little physical effort is required of us. When we get to work, most of us pull up a chair and take a seat for 8 to 9 hours. We get in our car and drive home, exhausted we land on the couch for another 3 hours and then off to bed. This gives us a total of 10-12 hours sitting each day.
Research Says Stand Up!
Recent research indicates that sitting for long periods of time contributes to weight gain and health problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Scientists from the United Kingdom have found reason to believe that sitting causes great harm even amongst those who exercise regularly. According to the research, sitting for long periods of time affects glucose levels and increases insulin resistance. Once insulin resistance begins a vicious battle ensues and belly fat settles in around our internal organs.
In response to these new findings, major corporations, hospitals and educational institutions have started to install standing desks for their employees. Standing improves posture, reduces stiffness, promotes clear thinking and burns more calories than sitting, hands down. If you are tied to your desk, take frequent breaks, walk around the office or better yet, figure out a way that you can stand up, at least for part of the day! Your body will thank you!
Do you find yourself sitting too much during the day? Even at night on the couch?
– The Alternative Daily
Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19910888
http://www.livestrong.com/article/73916-calories-burned-standing-vs.-sitting/
