The covid-19 pandemic has introduced a number of new behaviors into daily routines, such as physical distancing, the use of masks, and hand disinfection. Meanwhile, many old behaviors, such as attending events, going out to eat, and seeing friends, have been put on hold.
However, an old behavior that has persisted, and possibly amplified due to covid-19, is sitting down, and it’s not surprising to see why.
Whether one is sitting during transportation, work, time in front of screens or even during meals, environments and daily activities are adapted almost exclusively to sitting for a long time.
Thus, sedentary behaviors, such as sitting, make up most of the day for many people.
The current daily sedentary time is likely to be even longer than before the pandemic as a result of home stay orders, limitations in business and recreational facilities, and high health concerns.
Hello Vs. welfare
This situation is a problem, as excessive chronic levels of sedentary lifestyle have been linked to an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, mortality and even some cancers.
Do you think you could somehow reduce the time you spend sitting and working?
However, for many people, their own judgments and feelings about their quality of life (also known as subjective well-being) may be more important and relevant to making decisions and adopting health behaviors than the possibility of developing chronic illnesses. .
Subjective well-being encompasses an individual’s own assessment of their quality of life.
It includes concepts such as affection (positive and negative feelings) and satisfaction with life.
Interestingly, these assessments may conflict with physical health outcomes.
For example, a person may have diabetes but still report high subjective well-being, while someone without physical health problems may report poor subjective well-being.
This is important because it means that the way a person feels about their own health does not always align with what their body can demonstrate. That is why assessing subjective well-being is vital to painting a holistic picture of health.
Different contexts in which we sit
Relatively little research has examined the relationship between sedentary behaviors and subjective well-being.
Exploring this relationship is important as different contexts in which 01:00 estto sitting -how to socialize or spend time in front of 1 screen-, can generate different feelings or judgments of subjective well-being, Unlike the relationships between physical health and sedentary behavior, which tend to be more consistent.
Spending time sitting and reading may not negatively affect your perception of well-being.
As health psychologists focused on physical activity and sedentary behavior, we review the scientific literature that describes the relationships between measures of sedentary behaviors — such as physical inactivity and screen time — and subjective well-being measured by affection, satisfaction with life, and subjective well-being in general.
Our review highlights three main findings. First, sedentary behavior, physical inactivity, and time in front of the screen demonstrated weak but statistically significant correlations with subjective well-being.
In other words, those who said sit more often and spend longer periods without physical activity report less positive affect, Greater negative affection and less satisfaction with life than those who sat less and moved more.
We also found that this relationship was more evident in studies that compared very sedentary people with those who had more active lifestyles.
Sitting is not always bad
Our second main finding relates to the context of sedentary behavior.
While many studies have examined sedentary behavior in general and physical inactivity, other research has looked at specific contexts in which one spends time sitting and its relationship to subjective well-being.
Some activities, even if we do them sitting down, such as playing an instrument, can positively influence the feeling of well-being.
These studies revealed that different contexts of sedentary behavior have unique relationships with subjective well-being.
For example, time in front of a screen was constantly and negatively associated with subjective well-being.
However, contexts such as socializing, playing an instrument, and reading actually demonstrated positive associations with subjective well-being.
These results differ from traditional research on health-related sedentary behavior, in which any sedentary behavior is considered harmful.
Our review suggests that some types of sedentary behavior may be beneficial to quality of life.
Rather, not all contexts in which one feels are the same in terms of subjective well-being.
Therefore, when people strive to reduce the time they spend sitting, they need to consider not only how much to reduce, but what type of sedentary time to reduce.
Spending less time sitting is better
Our third main finding refers to sitting in general and self-perceived levels of sedentary behavior.
Do you prefer to talk sitting or walking?
Most studies found a weak and statistically significant association between higher overall sedentary time and lower subjective well-being.
However, in studies in which participants were asked to compare their sedentary behavior with the amount of time they normally spend sitting, those who perceived themselves as more sedentary than usual reported significant subjective well-being. poorer.
These findings suggest that the amount of time someone spends sitting in general may not be as important on its own as the comparison between how much time is spent sitting and the usual level of sedentary lifestyle.
This means that anyone, regardless of how much time they normally feel or physical activity, can potentially benefit from sitting less.
Covid-19 continues to influence daily life and routines. Even when businesses and gyms finally reopen, and we feel more comfortable meeting other people and we finally stop wearing masks, it is almost certain that we will continue sit down i sitting will continue to change the form in which we feel.
While we may not be able to eliminate all the time we spend sitting, we can all be aware of how much we can reduce it and where we can reduce it to be healthier and feel better.
* Wuyou Sui is a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Behavioral Medicine, School of Exercise Science, University of Victoria, Canada
* Harry Prapavessis is a professor of kinesiology at Western University, Canada.
* This article was originally published in English in The Conversation and you can read it here.