10 Things You Do That You Didn't Know Ruin Your Life

5. Sitting

https://vimeo.com/71441709 Chances are you're sitting down to read this, probably in a chair, you unnatural heathen. Chair sitting is actually immensely bad for us, particularly for long periods of time like, say, a working day. Within minutes of sitting down, the blood pools in your legs and the pressure builds up in your spine. You might begin to experience numbness and tingling, shortened hip flexors and hamstrings and even circulatory problems, all from having a little sit down. Chances are that you'll spend the vast majority of your day sitting. You'll probably go from lying in bed to sitting in your car or the bus, to sitting in the office, back in the car and then home and on the sofa. This is a problem, as people who spend most of their day sitting are 54% more likely to die of a heart attack, compared to people who spend their day standing like shop assistants and manual workers. If a food or drug had those kinds of odds, it would be the subject of major controversy but sitting remains innocuous. You're basically designed to spend most of your day on your feet, usually chasing after your dinner, and then either crouched or sat on the ground. Luckily, a lot of the negative effects of sitting can be easily counteracted by small burst of activity every half an hour and even little things like swinging back in your chair (which is a massive in-your-face for all the teachers who always told you not to). For more hints on how to counteract The Deadly Sit, take a look at the video above.