Transparency is extremely important to us, so we are letting you know that we may receive a commission on some of links you click on from this page. See our disclaimer.

“If we think of our days in terms of the time we spend in different activities we can divide them into sedentary time (sitting during work, school or travel), light activity (walking around the house) and active time (walking the dog or going to the gym),” according to Healthy Alberta.

“Contrast this with our ancestors who spent much of their working time on the land or doing household chores (such as baling hay or hand washing clothes). Going shopping would mean hooking up the horse to the carriage and driving to town holding the reins. Over the past century there has been a large shift in the types of activities we do each day. Our lives have become inactive for much of our waking time. The result is many of us are overweight simply because we sit too much.”

“Being inactive for long periods of time is not healthy. In fact, being inactive is associated with increases in chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis and some cancers. Researchers have found that prolonged television viewing, particularly lasting more than four hours a day, is associated with higher blood sugar levels, higher blood fat levels, larger waist circumference, and higher risk of *metabolic syndrome.”