Sitting Too Long Could Kill You

Nowadays, most people spend long hours sitting at their computers. I work at home on my computer. To be sure, I probably spend 10 or 12 hours a day at the computer. It’s very important for those of us who work at home to get up and stretch our legs every hour or so. Sitting down for long hours can restrict the circulation in our legs and cause blood clots to form.

Even if you aren’t sitting at the computer, you can put yourself in danger from sitting too long. Driving for long distances, resting in your recliner are all forms of sitting. You need to get up and stretch your legs and get the circulation going in your extremities to prevent blood clots from forming. When blood clots form in the legs, they can easily break loose from the wall of the blood vessel and get into circulation. As long as an embolus (free flowing blood clot) doesn’t get stuck somewhere, no damage will be done; however, emboli (more than one free flowing blood clot) will likely get stuck in the smaller vessels. A common place for an embolus to get stuck is in the lungs. When a blood clot gets stuck in the lungs, it can be a life threatening situation.

My former sister-in-law had a sit down job. She did office work for several years. Suddenly she got sick, and started coughing, and complaining of side pain. Soon after that, she fell into respiratory arrest and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. By the time the family got to the hospital she was hooked up to life support and she never recovered. What might have made things worse for her was that she was on birth control pills and she was a smoker. Whether or not, her smoking and birth control increased her likelihood of developing blood clots, I will never know.

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If you spend much of your day sitting, then take a few minutes, at least 30 minutes a day for some moderate exercise. People who spend most of their day sitting are at higher risk for heart attacks and strokes. Sitting for long periods puts us at risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The longer we sit, the less responsive our upper leg muscles become to nerve impulses. You may not even realize that your circulation has been impeded while you are sitting for long periods.

I have to remind myself to get up and move around. I set a timer for every hour and a half to get up and do something in the house, just to protect myself from developing blood clots. If I happen to forget to set the timer on my phone, I will sit so long and then when I try to get up I am in extreme pain. When I sit for too long, I don’t have the ability to move my body to get up on my own. The nerves have become less responsive, and I cannot move my body.