Is “Sitting” Really “The New Smoking”? Take away- Move More, Sit Less”!

GUEST COLUMN: Dr. N Prabhudev

Bengaluru Express
Bengaluru, April 19:

Smoking is horrible for our health. Long hrs. Of Sitting is harmful. It is estimated – Smoking will cause one billion deaths in the 21st century.
Catchphrase of the year- Sitting is the new smoking”! News headlines on sitting -“new smoking” or “worse than smoking” has led to misconceptions and misperceptions and uncertainties with respect to public health recommendations. It serves to distort and trivialize the ongoing and serious risks of smoking”! The century-long epidemic of cigarette smoking is slowly declining over the past 50 years!
Sitting pretty:
We are spending more time sitting and less time exercising than in the past. Between 2007 and 2016, the total sitting time increased from 5.5 to 6.4 hours per day! The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges. Work-from-home is not ideal or perfect. Modern lives often involve a lot of sitting — at our desks, in our cars, even on the couch for leisure time. But is all this sitting bad for us? The answer is a resounding yes!
Watching one hour of TV above age 25 may be about as lethal as smoking one cigarette! Lighting up might be worse for us as individuals, but sitting down may well cost more lives overall. “While smoking rates are going down, almost everyone watches quite a bit of TV! It is recommended to limiting couch time to no more than two hours per day or night.
Sitting less than 3 hours/day increases life expectancy by 1 to 3 months. Not bad. Quitting smoking boosts life expectancy 12 to 35 months. The increase in sitting time is becoming a national epidemic which needs to be addressed.
Sitting is a habit! Smoking is addictive! Sitting is 8 to 12 times more harmful to those who stand and work! Exercising 30-40 minutes per day offsets the risks of sitting! We know smoking is horrible for our health. Sitting is just as harmful. This narrative gained popularity and sold a lot of stand-up desks in the past decade. It’s a terrifying comparison, considering how much sitting we do.
Sitting has frequently been equated with smoking, with some sources even suggesting that smoking is safer than sitting. No, it is wrong! In today’s fast-paced yet predominantly sedentary lifestyle, prolonged sitting has emerged as a major health concern. Research – analysing data from over one million individuals has found that sitting for more than eight hours per day without any physical activity carries a mortality risk similar to that of obesity and smoking.
Sedentary behaviours, characterized by prolonged sitting and insufficient physical activity, has become a global epidemic. According to WHO, physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for mortality. Alarmingly, individuals with sedentary lifestyles face a 20-30% higher risk of all-cause mortality compared to those who engage in regular moderate-intensity physical activity.
You should not sit for longer than two to three hours at a time. The world continues to embrace work from home! Prolonged sitting slows down metabolism, affecting the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar and blood pressure, and to break down body fat! This can lead to obesity and metabolic syndrome! Stand up and move around for 10 minutes for every 60 minutes of sitting to offset the ill effects!

Prolonged sitting is truly a silent killer. On an average we spend six to eight hours a day sitting. If you stand or move around during the day, you have a lower risk of early death than if you sit at a desk. If you live a sedentary lifestyle, you have a higher chance of being overweight, developing type 2 diabetes or heart disease, and experiencing depression and anxiety.
Sitting and smoking are fundamentally different as sitting is a natural human activity, whereas smoking is an unhealthy activity. However sitting 8-10 hours per day is just not fine! Extended sitting has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, increased blood pressure and Diabetes and compromised heart health.
The health risks associated with smoking are well-established and severe, leading to a myriad of life-threatening conditions such as lung cancer, heart disease, and respiratory issues. Sedentary behaviours, while linked to increased risks of obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and other health issues, does not carry the same level of inherent danger as smoking.
Sitting, on the other hand, is a natural and necessary human activity. The problem arises when it becomes prolonged and is not balanced with regular physical activity. Smoking is never necessary! Smoking just 1 to 4 cigarettes/day is worse than sitting. The risk of death associated with light smoking is 3-4x higher than for sedentary behaviour. As you might expect, heavy smokers – over 40 cigarettes/day fare worse. They’re 10.5x more likely to die early than the worst couch potatoes.
The health risks of smoking are higher than the risks of sitting a lot. For smokers, the risk of early death is 178% higher than for non-smokers. The risk of death due to sitting too much is 22% higher than for active individuals.
Everyone has the same 24 hours each day! Working up to at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic activity each week plus two days per week of muscle strengthening activities over time” have proven to be beneficial. The ideal daily balance is associated with
Six hours of sitting
Five hours and 10 minutes of standing
Eight hours and 20 minutes of sleeping
Two hours and 10 minutes of light-intensity physical activity
Two hours and 10 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity.
-The Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute-:

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