Right now, you're probably sitting down to watch this video and staying seated for a few minutes to view it is probably okay. But the longer you stay put, the more agitated your body becomes. It sits there counting down the moments until you stand up again and take it for a walk. That may sound ridiculous. Our bodies love to sit, right? Not really. Sure, sitting for brief periods can help us recover from stress or recuperate from exercise. But nowadays, our lifestyles make us sit much more than we move around, and our bodies simply aren't built for such a sedentary existence. In fact, just the opposite is true. The human body is built to move, and you can see evidence of that in the way it's structured. Inside us are over 360 joints, and about 700 skeletal muscles that enable easy, fluid motion. The body's unique physical structure gives us the ability to stand up straight against the pull of gravity. Our blood depends on us moving around to be able to circulate properly. Our nerve cells benefit from movement, and our skin is elastic, meaning it molds to our motions. So if every inch of the body is ready and waiting for you to move, what happens when you just don't? Let's start with the backbone of the problem, literally. Your spine is a long structure made of bones and the cartilage discs that sit between them. Joints, muscles and ligaments that are attached to the bones hold it all together. A common way of sitting is with a curved back and slumped shoulders, a position that puts uneven pressure on your spine. Over time, this causes wear and tear in your spinal discs, overworks certain ligaments and joints, and puts strain on muscles that stretch to accommodate your back's curved position. This hunched shape also shrinks your chest cavity while you sit, meaning your lungs have less space to expand into when you breath. That's a problem because it temporarily limits the amount of oxygen that fills your lungs and filters into your blood. Around the skeleton are the muscles, nerves, arteries and veins that form the body's soft tissue layers. The very act of sitting squashes, pressurizes and compresses, and these more delicate tissues really feel the brunt. Have you ever experienced numbness and swelling in your limbs when you sit? In areas that are the most compressed, your nerves, arteries and veins can become blocked, which limits nerve signaling, causing the numbness, and reduces blood flow in your limbs, causing them to swell. Sitting for long periods also temporarily deactivates lipoprotein lipase, a special enzyme in the walls of blood capillaries that breaks down fats in the blood, so when you sit, you're not burning fat nearly as well as when you move around. What effect does all of this stasis have on the brain? Most of the time, you probably sit down to use your brain, but ironically, lengthy periods of sitting actually run counter to this goal. Being stationary reduces blood flow and the amount of oxygen entering your blood stream through your lungs. Your brain requires both of those things to remain alert, so your concentration levels will most likely dip as your brain activity slows. Unfortunately, the ill effects of being seated don't only exist in the short term. Recent studies have found that sitting for long periods is linked with some types of cancers and heart disease and can contribute to diabetes, kidney and liver problems. In fact, researchers have worked out that, worldwide, inactivity causes about 9% of premature deaths a year. That's over 5 million people. So what seems like such a harmless habit actually has the power to change our health. But luckily, the solutions to this mounting threat are simple and intuitive. When you have no choice but to sit, try switching the slouch for a straighter spine, and when you don't have to be bound to your seat, aim to move around much more, perhaps by setting a reminder to yourself to get up every half hour. But mostly, just appreciate that bodies are built for motion, not for stillness. In fact, since the video's almost over, why not stand up and stretch right now? Treat your body to a walk. It'll thank you later.
Ovog trenutka verovatno sedite dok gledate ovaj video i sedenje od nekoliko minuta dok ga pogledate je verovatno u redu. Ali, što duže ostanete u sedećem položaju, vaše telo postaje sve više uzrujano. Sedi tako i broji trenutke dok ponovo ne ustanete i prošetate ga. Ovo možda zvuči smešno. Naša tela vole da sede, zar ne? Ne baš. Naravno, kratkoročno sedenje nam može pomoći da se oporavimo od stresa ili od vežbanja. Ali u današnje vreme, stil života nam nameće da sedimo više nego što se krećemo, i naša tela jednostavno nisu napravljena za tako sedentno postojanje. Zapravo, upravo suprotno od toga. Ljudsko telo je napravljeno da se kreće, i dokaz za to možemo videti u njegovoj strukturi. Sastoji se od preko 360 zglobova i oko 700 skeletnih mišića što omogućava lako i fluidno kretanje. Jedinstvena struktura tela, omogućuje nam da stojimo uspravno uprkos sili gravitacije. Pravilna cirkulacija krvi zavisi od našeg kretanja. Naše nervne ćelije imaju korist od kretanja, a naša koža je elastična, što znači da se oblikuje prema našem kretanju. Dakle, ako je svaki pedalj našeg tela spreman i čeka da se pokrenemo, šta se događa ako to ne učinimo? Hajde da krenemo od srži problema, bukvalno. Naša kičma je dugačka struktura napravljena od kostiju i diskova hrskavice koji su između njih. Zglobovi, mišići i ligamenti koji su pripojeni uz kosti drže ih zajedno. Obično sedimo s povijenim leđima i upalim ramenima što je pozicija u kojoj naša kičma trpi nejednak pritisak. Vremenom, ovo dovodi do trošenja spinalnih diskova, premora određenih ligamenata i zglobova, i stavlja napor na mišiće koji se istežu kako bi se prilagodili kičmi u povijenom položaju. Ovaj pogrbljeni oblik takođe suzbija grudni koš dok dišemo, što znači da pluća imaju manje prostora da se šire kada udahnemo. To je problem jer privremeno ograničava količinu kiseonika koja ispunjava pluća i filtrira se u krv. Oko skeleta su mišići, nervi, arterije i vene koji formiraju sloj mekog tkiva. Sam čin sedenja guši, pritiska i kompresuje i ovo mnogo delikatnije tkivo to zaista oseća. Da li ste ikada osetili ukočenost i oticanje u udovima kada sedite? U delovima koji su najviše skučeni, vaši nervi, arterije i vene mogu da se blokiraju što ograničava nervne signale, dovodeći do utrnuća i smanjuje protok krvi u udovima, dovodeći do oticanja. Sedenje u dužim intervalima privremeno deaktivira lipoproteinsku lipazu, specijalni enzim u zidovima krvnih kapilara koji razgrađuje masti u krvi, tako da dok sedimo, ne sagorevamo masti ni približno kao kad se krećemo. Kakav efekat ovaj zastoj ima na mozak? Većinu vremena, sedimo kako bismo koristili mozak, ali ironično, duži periodi sedenja imaju kontra efekat. Biti nepokretan smanjuje protok krvi i količinu kiseonika koja ulazi u krvotok kroz pluća. Vašem mozgu trebaju obe ove stvari kako bi ostao na oprezu, tako da će vam nivo koncentracije verovatno opasti kako se aktivnost mozga smanjuje. Nažalost, loši efekti sedenja nisu samo kratkoročni. Skorašnje studije su otkrile da je dugoročno sedenje povezano sa nekim vrstama raka i srčanih bolesti i može dovesti do dijabetesa i problema sa bubrezima i jetrom. Zapravo, naučnici širom sveta otkrili su da neaktivnost izaziva oko 9% preranih smrti godišnje. To je preko 5 miliona ljudi. Dakle, ono što deluje kao bezazlena navika zapravo ima moć da promeni naše zdravlje. Ali srećom, rešenja za ovu pretnju su jednostavna i inutitivna. Kada nemate drugog izbora nego da sedite, probajte da zamenite pogrbljeni položaj sa onim u kojem vam je kičma prava, a kada ne morate da budete vezani za stolicu, imajte u cilju da se krećete što više, možda da sebi stavite podsetnik da ustanete svakih pola sata. Ali najpre samo cenite to da su tela napravljena da se kreću a ne da miruju. Zapravo, kako je ovaj video skoro završen, zašto ne biste ustali i protegli se sada? Počastite svoje telo šetnjom. Biće vam zahvalno kasnije.