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Physical inactivity and prolonged sitting is found to be more common in the office worker especially those working on a desk from 8-9 hours a day. Sitting down and working on a computer can make you very easy to gain weight. That with sitting jobs has to face some challenges if they will not take proper precautions. Among them some of the common problems that occur are weight gain, other ailments like heart problem, numbness in legs, diabetes etc. also occurs.

Many diseases like diabetes and sometimes premature death occurs while prolonged sitting, reported by Harvard Medical School, as it causes negative impact on your sugar, salt or fat metabolism. People sitting for longer time had a 22–49% greater risk of early death as reported in one research. 30 percent more calories burn when you stand than when you sit, as reported, based on figures from the Journal of Physical Activity and Health.

What happens to you when you sit for long hours: Sitting can have temporary or permanent effects on your health and body, making this really point of concern. 

Sitting in fixed position for long hours cause injuries that affect movements 

•Sitting causes to slow down the heart activity by reducing the blood flow, which in turn affect the overall activity of circulatory system. Slow blood flow in the body, results to cause swell or numbness in the legs and end up with varicose veins. Lower blood supply in the body is the main reason of fatigue while working in the office.

Wrong body posture

•Wrong posture and sitting for long duration will cause large ill effect on the body like muscular pain on hips and back, it also causes compression on your discs in the spine, leads to premature degeneration and chronic pain. Therefore an individual needs to change their body posture time to time. 

Weight Gain

•Research says when you move, your muscles release molecules like lipase enzyme, which help to break fats and sugars present in the food we eat. Sitting for long hours reduce this activity, result in weight gain and also cause risk of metabolic disorder.

Stiff Shoulders and Neck

•Prolonged sitting mostly affect neck, shoulder and lower back causing reduction in body movement, making muscle more likely to pull, strain especially when there is any sudden jerk.

Varicose Veins

•Blood pooling occurs in the legs if sitting for long period. This can lead to varicose veins i.e. the veins get swollen, twisted and visible. These are not harmful but rarely can lead to serious conditions, like heavy feeling in the leg, swelling or sometimes blood clots.

Diabetes Risk

•Research said that sitting for long hours with increase the risk of Type -2 Diabetes by 22 percent regardless of exercise you do. Diabetes refers to increase of sugar level than normal in the blood, which leads to kidney and heart disease.

•Research team of Wilmot's team done multiple studies included nearly 800,000 people, where it was analyzed that People who had spent longest period of time in sitting were twice to have diabetes than those who spent less time in sitting and same was observed for heart disease too. 

Heart Disease

•Sitting and heart disease is another combination, which has increased the risk of heart disease. Study suggest that sitting for 10 or more than 10 hours will have 18% of greater chance of heart attack or stroke than those who sit five or fewer hours in a day.

•One study found that men who spent watching television for more than 23 hours a week had a 64 percent greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than men who only watched television for 11 hours. 

Anxiety and Depression

•Sitting for prolonged period not only affect physical health but also affect mental health. Risk depression and anxiety are higher in people who sit the most.  

•In one of the study, it was reported that women who sat for more than 7 hours had 3 times more the risk of depression than those women who sat less than 4 hours per day

Few tips needs to follow in order to avoid weight gain and to protect yourself from any hazard health effect while you are at work

Fuel your body with healthy lunch and snacks

•Picking snacks which is full of calories, fats and low nutrients is easy but not a good option, rather choosing a healthy food not only fuel your body but also control your weight and keep your body in shape and healthy too.

•Pick healthy snacks, meals and most importantly bring your own lunch pack having healthy meals which can include: Fruits, vegetables, sliced cheeses which are low fat, low-fat yogurt, apple, celery sticks with peanut butter and spinach salad with grilled chicken, whole wheat wrap with sliced vegetables and avocado and try to limit your calories under 200 in your snacks. Avoid having chips, pasta or pizza which is full of calories and fats.

•Snacking on foods like pumpkin seeds, cherry tomatoes and almond are also a good option as recommended by The Health Promotion Board.

Avoid Elevator

•Choosing stairs over elevator is another best option to control weight. According to Health Promotion Board, walking between 7,500 and 10,000 steps not only lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels but also help in improving blood sugar levels, which in turn reduce the risk of diabetes and other chronic ailments.

Stay Hydrated

•If you want to stay fit, then choosing to be hydrated is a very good option. To stay away from unhealthy snacks, keep a water bottle with you always to drink it whenever required and keep yourself hydrated 

•According to Health Promotion Board, around 8-10 glasses of 250ml of water should be taken every day and you also add up no-calorie flavored waters like coconut water, which will help you maintain a healthy diet and body. By doing so, it will stop you from snacking when you are hungry and you will also feel less lethargic when you work.

Walking

•Reserve your 30 minutes per day for walking, running or exercise or whatever you wish to do, to stay fit and healthy. Run in place at your desk or do a few jumping jacks to get your heart rate up.

•Walking for at least 2-3 minutes after every half an hour, helps to protect you from getting any severity. It will improve your blood sugar levels, as sometimes fixed position squeezes the blood vessels in the muscles, thus cause insufficient supply of blood causing fatigue and making the muscles more prone to injury.