Sedentary Lifestyle Has the Same Impact on Your Heart as Smoking Does!!!

Is There Someone Who Stabs Their Own Heart?

Yes, there are some people who are killing themselves in the name of the so-called new modern busy lifestyles and eating habits. Unfortunately, all of this is killing them silently by deteriorating their heart's health at a slow but regular pace.

Everybody knows that one cannot control the family history of certain genetic heart diseases. These genetics are playing far less of a role in the heart's wellness; instead, it is one's own preventable bad habits and lifestyle that are doing the actual harm.

What Is a Sedentary Lifestyle?

A sedentary lifestyle is an inactive style of life with minimal physical activity. For example, persons who spend more time watching television, mobiles, or computers, reading or writing books, and doing office work involving screen time and documentation have sedentary behavior.

In the long run, sedentary behavior can have energy imbalance and cause various health issues.

A sedentary lifestyle will not only cause heart disease but can also lead to certain cancers, bone disease, metabolic disorders, anxiety, and depression. Recent research suggests that a sedentary lifestyle significantly contributes to a worldwide burden of chronic diseases.

How Can One Know Whether They Have a Sedentary Lifestyle?

One can ask themselves the following questions to know their lifestyle:

• How many hours are spent sitting or lying down and relaxing in a day?

• Do they take their heart seriously?

• How regularly do they see a doctor?

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• How much do they smoke and take alcohol?

• Do they take the condition seriously if sometimes they feel pain in the chest, feel dizziness, unexplained fatigue, and shortness of breath with even mild to moderate physical activity?

• How healthy is the diet?

• What about the ideal weight and an ideal waist circumference according to age and height?

Most persons with a sedentary lifestyle are those who have unhealthy dietary choices, lack sports activity, occupations with less physical activity, or do not exercise or work out regularly.

What Are the Eye-Opening Facts About Heart Health and the Sedentary Lifestyle?

• A person smoking regularly and a non-smoker with an inactive lifestyle share the same risk of developing heart disease.

• A sedentary lifestyle is one of the primary reasons for bad cholesterol accumulation in the body, diabetes, weight gain, hypertension, and many more diseases.

• Pain in the chest may be due to many reasons like muscular pain and gastric issues. But it cannot be taken lightly. It is always advisable to check with the physician to rule out a heart attack.

• Smokers are at greater risk of heart disease as compared to non-smokers. This is because smoke contains chemical products that lead to the hardening of the blood vessels and coronary artery diseases (arteriosclerosis).

• Alcohol consumption poses a risk to the heart and liver. Alcoholic cirrhosis (chronic liver damage) is getting very common in alcoholics and is a major reason for end-stage liver disease.

• Obesity is the mother of all diseases and central or truncal obesity (excess weight in the belly and hip region) is a killer for creating an extra burden on the heart.

• High blood pressure is a direct and serious risk factor for heart diseases.

What Are the Lifestyle Modifications for Healthy Living?

• Keep moving during the daytime and try to spend less time sitting on the chair. Make use of stairs instead of an elevator or lift.

• Regularly visit a primary-care physician to diagnose any heart disorders at preliminary stages and risk factors can be kept in check.

• It is never too late to quit smoking. The first step in getting out of the valley is to stop digging it. No matter how long one has been a chain smoker, quitting smoking is always beneficial.

• If the job demands more of a sitting work style and environment, take off from the seat frequently during the continuous spells. It will make a huge difference in the days to come.

• Maintain the body mass index (BMI - nutrition status indicator). With every 10 pounds of decrease in weight, the blood pressure value may decrease by 5 mm Hg.

• If there is chest pain, shortness of breath, or radiating pain to the arms, shoulders, jaws, or back of the body, immediately call an ambulance or local emergency service.

• Diabetic patients need extra care and regular visits to their physicians. They may not feel the typical pain during a heart attack because of neuropathy (nerve dysfunction - a complication of long-standing diabetes).

What Is the SLOTH Model?

The SLOTH is a time-budget intervention designed in a practical, equitable, feasible, and economically efficient way, dividing 24 hours of a day into five categories.

• Sleep.

• Leisure.

• Occupation.

• Transportation.

• Home.

The SLOTH model guides increasing the physical activities under each category. Except for the sleep time, an individual can choose different modalities in each domain to keep themselves active.

For example, during leisure hours, one can try to play outdoors, have a relaxed walk, go on a camp, etc., instead of sitting and watching television or reading books. Friends and colleagues can come together to participate in voluntary work demanding physical activity. People can choose cycling or walking as transport whenever feasible. By avoiding servants and maids, all the family members can share their household duties like regular chores, gardening, cleaning, etc.

The SLOTH model can be implemented individually or as a public health strategy on a larger scale to address the health disasters of sedentary lifestyles and obesity.

Conclusion:

Research has confirmed that a sedentary lifestyle is analogous to smoking in affecting heart health. But there is no standard assessment index for sedentary lifestyles. It is the individual's responsibility and self-report that help them to follow a healthy lifestyle. The heart is the basic pump for life. If this pump fails, life will end. Few unhealthy habits today will grow firmly and become unmodifiable in the future. So wake up today for a better tomorrow.