The Hidden Dangers of Sitting: How Prolonged Sitting Harms Your Brain & How To Combat It

Small Space Fitness: Cat Corchado

This is Cat Corchado, your movement specialist. And for the month of August, I decided to do a video blog about sitting and the effects on your brain. It’s something we all do, right? We don’t really pay attention to it.

Watch It Here:

Or, Enjoy The Full Read Below.

We sit at our desks for hours, we’re fully engrossed in our work, which is great if you’re an entrepreneur, barely noticing that the minutes are ticking by until you start to get up. So sitting for a long time has kind of been a norm, especially since COVID. We did a lot of sitting then, and we’re still doing a lot of sitting now, and it might seem harmless.

Hidden Dangers Of Sitting – Serious Consequences For Your Brain:

The truth is excessive sitting can have serious consequences for your brain. One of the most concerning effects of prolonged sitting is reduced blood flow to the brain. So I’m going to stop here for a second, and for those of you that don’t know, I’m a military veteran, and one of my supervisors would say all the time that sitting makes you stupid. 

“One of the most concerning effects of prolonged sitting is reduced blood flow to the brain“

And what he meant was that sitting too long makes your brain fall asleep. Or maybe if you’re an entrepreneur, have you ever been sitting, working on something so incredibly difficult? And maybe it’s an email. And you look at the email, you think it’s perfect, you get up, you go do something, you come back, and then you start to notice all the typos that are in your email. 

So when we sit for too long, blood circulation slows down, which means less oxygen and fewer essential nutrients to our brain. This can lead to a decline in cognitive function. So even if you’ve been feeling foggy or struggling to concentrate after hours of sitting, it means that your brain is going, excuse me, I need a break. 

Overcome Fatigue:

So how can you overcome this type of fatigue? Get up and move. Set a timer for yourself. Say every 50 minutes, I’m going to get up and walk around whether it’s going to the bathroom, getting water, just get up and move. 

Maybe you can do some stretching. Stretching is great for activating the brain. Maybe get an 11-minute workout. 

You guys have heard me, or maybe you’ve read that I think 11 minutes of working out has been great. And so what happens over time is that if you continue to sit for a long time, you get into this mental fatigue, and it’s slower thinking, and it can lead, yes, to dementia and Alzheimer’s. So what does movement do for your brain? It activates your brain.

Have you ever gone for a walk and all of a sudden you just feel wide awake? Prolonged sitting has been linked to an increased risk of dementia. And so the sedentary lifestyle associated with excessive sitting can lead to health conditions that damage our brain function and can increase hypertension, diabetes, obesity. You guys all know this. 

“Stretching is great for activating the brain. Maybe get an 11-minute workout.“

Breaking The Habit:

The good news is that when we do certain things, i.e. get a standing desk, not my thing, but if you want a standing desk, you can, alternate between sitting and standing. You know, every, like I said, set a timer for yourself. It’s every half an hour, every 50 minutes.

We did 50 minutes in the military because we would come back on the hour and it would just restart what we were doing. So remember, our brains are designed to function best when our bodies are in motion. I just said that.

Well, I didn’t say it like that. So by breaking this habit of prolonged sitting, you’re not just protecting your physical health, you’re also investing in your brain’s long-term well-being. So next time you’re tempted to stay glued to your seat, think about the impact on your brain. 

Stand up, move around, and keep your mind as active as your body.

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