The other day I was in class, when the professor gave us a 10 minute break after two hours of class time had passed. “Did you know sitting in the new smoking?” he said, and as he did, I quietly raised my hand and asked him what he meant.

His explanation led me to my own research the very same night, after class was over. As I typed “Sitting is the new smoking”, a variety of articles, images and blog posts came up. I was immediately drawn to the above picture and clicked on the website.

Turns out what I had clicked on was an info-graph created by a series of healthcare workers and researchers whose job is to provide a certain report based on primary data. This info graph happened to be the hard work of a bunch of people who put numbers into perspective.

According to the info graph, just 6 hours of sitting per day puts you at risk for a variety of complications,  making you 40% more likely to die 15 years earlier than someone who sits only 3 hours a day.

Obesity has doubled since the 80’s and one possible theory is…sitting, because more obese people sit frequently than thin people. I know a shocker right?

Here is what happens when you sit for a period of time:

1. Electrical activity in the muscles shut off
2. Calorie burning drops to one per minute
3. Fat breaking enzymes drop to 90%

Here is what you should do:

Get up, be active, and move your body!

Here’s the facts about sitting down compiled in the infographic from Medical Billing and Coding.