Judges, managers, cashiers, newspaper editors, professional drivers, accountants, secretaries, and medical doctors are among a long list of people in various jobs who spend the greater part of their days sitting, with some apparently unaware of the implications for their health. We could also add people who sit on social media and play video games for hours without a break, hurting themselves because of inactivity.

Those who spend six hours or more per day sitting or lying down are living what is called a sedentary lifestyle, which can lead to various non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

This is one of the reasons the Ministry of Health and Wellness had introduced Jamaica Moves, a successful exercise programme which has since been replicated in other islands. Jamaica Moves is being revamped to allow even more people to participate at the community level to improve their health.

According to Yale Medicine, a publication of Yale University, spending hours in a chair can cause all kinds of damage to the body and even shorten lifespan. The publication said the Annals of Internal Medicine, in a study of 8,000 adults, showed an association between prolonged sitting and a risk of early death. “People who sat no more than 30 minutes at a time had the lowest risk in that study. Other research has linked prolonged sitting or other sedentary behaviour to diabetes, poor heart health, weight gain, depression, dementia, and multiple cancers,” said the publication.

It was not lost on the researchers, however, that work means hours of sitting, with rare pauses for a walk around the block or even down the hall. “While it is easy to dismiss this as a routine part of adult life, it is becoming a growing concern among researchers,” said the Yale article.

I could add that, outside of researchers, it is a concern of the Government, which has had to spend billions of dollars each year on NCDs.

Cardiologist Dr Rachel Lampart, in the above-mentioned Yale article, was quoted as saying: “Sitting, like a lack of physical activity in general, is a contributing factor in many cases of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in both men and women.” She added that the body has all kinds of negative reactions to sitting for long periods. “In addition to decreasing blood flow to the legs, sitting impacts things like sugar regulation and blood pressure; by altering the normal function of blood vessels, it feeds into diabetes and heart attacks.”

Added the cardiologist: “There is no exact formula for how often you should stand up from your desk. But it makes sense to increase the amount of time you are active, whatever you are doing. Even a short walk every hour is helpful [as] many people track their habits and increase their activity once they have clear evidence of their sedentary behaviour.”

Mayo Clinic, meanwhile, said research which analysed 13 studies of sitting time and activity levels among more than one million people found that those who sat for more than eight hours a day with no physical activity had a risk of dying, like that posed by obesity and smoking. The researchers said 60 to 75 minutes of aerobic activity a day could offset the effects of too much sitting.

It is no secret that NCDs, especially cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic respiratory diseases, are leading causes of death in Jamaica, while the country spends billions of dollars on hospital care and medication.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton told a Pan American Health Organization meeting in Washington, DC, United States, last September that NCDs were estimated to cost Caribbean nations between 1.36 per cent and eight per cent of gross domestic product, excluding indirect costs from lost production.

There must be a reduction in alcohol and tobacco use, unhealthy diets, and physical inactivity, including sitting for hours. A healthy population means a healthy nation, and likewise, a sick population means a sick country. What we need now is the will of the people to change.

Pete Sankey is a veteran journalist.