Is sitting the new smoking?

A new survey shows nine out of 10 Australians think the most significant cause of obesity is too much time sitting down and not exercising.

The result comes from a nationally representative survey of 1000 Australians conducted by UMR for Spinal Health Week 2013.

Launching Spinal Health Week 2013, Andrew McNamara, CEO of the Chiropractors Association of Australia (CAA), said, “Australians have got it right and sitting may well be the new smoking.

“What sitting has in common with smoking is that they are both bad habits and they are both harmful to health,” McNamara says.

“The new wonders of technology have brought with it a sitting down habit that is hard to break and has alarming consequences.”

The CAA has research suggesting office workers in Australia are now sitting for up to 14 hours a day. Sitting down means electrical activity in the legs shut off, calorie burning drops to one per minute and enzymes that help break down fat drop 90%.

McNamara says workplaces should consider introducing at least one walking meeting a day and get a workplace presentation from a health practitioner such as a chiropractor on how to sit right and improve your postural fitness.

McNamara says, “The urban myth is that you can offset a sedentary lifestyle by simply watching your diet and getting some exercise. But this ignores the modern reality that you might be sitting down for up to 14 hours a day.”

The next most likely cause of obesity according to Australians is: “We are now time poor and eat quick convenient foods that often are not good for us.”  80% thought that a significant factor in obesity.

Women are more concerned than men about “confusing advice on diets and exercise” (61/56%) and that “supermarkets now display and sell far more foods that are higher in sugar than 10 years ago” (81/72%) and the “high cost of good nutritional fresh foods” (67/59%).

Different views may be heard among experts as to the true cause of Australia’s obesity epidemic, but among the general population they are confident sitting is the culprit - a view shared most strongly by women (92%) and our seniors over 70 (96%).

McNamara says it’s wrong to paint sitting as just a generational attribute: “But for a very few, we are all digital natives now. Technology has ramped up sitting down for hours on end, as a bad habit across all demographics.

“I am, of course, in no way suggesting that less energy or resources be devoted to combating smoking,” McNamara says.

The CAA is promoting Spinal Health Week during 20-26 May this year. A Sit Right widget may be downloaded to your desktop and an app is available which will record how far you walk.

See the CAA website and www.facebook.com/SpinalHealthWeek.