BRAIN HEALTH AND SEDENTARY HOURS
Sedentary behavior, defined as prolonged inactivity, significantly harms mental health, increasing risks for depression, anxiety, stress, and burnout, while reducing emotional well-being and sleep quality, with effects linked to displacement of physical activity and potential addiction to screens. Reducing sedentary time through breaks, movement, and integrating physical activity is crucial for improving psychological health, especially for students and adolescents.
Negative Impacts on Mental Health
Depression & Anxiety: More sedentary time, especially screen-based, is linked to higher odds of depressive and anxiety symptoms.
Stress & Burnout: Sedentary activities, particularly occupational, can elevate psychological distress, stress, and burnout.
Poor Sleep: Prolonged sitting is associated with sleep disorders, which often co-occur with mental health issues.
Lower Well-being: Sedentary lifestyles correlate with lower self-esteem and overall emotional well-being.
Why Sedentary Behavior Is Harmful
Displaces Activity: It takes time away from physical activity, which is a known mood booster.
Psychological Effects: Screen time can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed, “brain burnout,” and addiction.
Strategies to Reduce Sedentary Behavior
Interrupt Prolonged Sitting: Use alarms, apps (like Pomodoro), or wearable reminders to take breaks every 30-60 minutes.
Increase Physical Activity: Even short bursts of movement help, and more activity is linked to lower depression/anxiety.
Create Supportive Environments: Implement sit-stand desks, improve campus walkability, and offer movement breaks.
Set Limits: Use technology to set time limits on devices to encourage movement.
Research On Connections
The risk for dementia increased greatly for adults who were sedentary more than 10 hours a day. Source: National Institute Of Aging
BIOLOGICAL AGING AND SEDENTARY HOURS
According to the National Library of Medicine, older adults are the most sedentary age group, with sedentary behaviour having negative health-related consequences, including being a risk factor for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and premature mortality.
Research On Connections
“When you sit for too long, an enzyme that turns harmful LDL cholesterol into good HDL cholesterol drops by 95%. To protect your heart, take frequent breaks. Stand up at least every 30 minutes and, if you can, go for a 5-minute walk every hour” Source: WebMD
“inactivity and leading a sedentary lifestyle are commonly associated with degenerative arthritis” Source: St John’s Health
University of California San Diego took blood samples from nearly 1,500 older women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative. Previous studies have found that as cells divide and age, they lose bits of the telomeres, so the length of this region can be a marker for how old a cell (and indirectly the person the cells belong to) is. The researchers compared telomere length to how much the women exercised, to see if physical activity affected aging.
“Those who spent more time sedentary (about 10 hours or more) had shorter telomeres than those who spent less time sitting everyday. The amount of shortening added up to about eight years of aging, the scientists estimated—meaning that inactive women who spent more time sitting were about eight years older, on average, than those who were inactive but spent less time sedentary” Source: Time Magazine
RECOMMENDED HEALTHY AGING PROTOCOL
“My Daily Hours Spent Sitting”: Answer = Under 4 Hours