Would it Kill You to Sit? Maybe.

by Tihani Palomares – Horizon News and Features Editor

All of our lives we have been told that we needed to exercise to stay healthy. That one-hour of being active everyday would prevent health complications. But what if I told you that it wouldn’t be enough? What if I told you that by simply sitting, we are increasing the risk of heart diseases and even death.

For years now, researchers have been conducting tests to discover  the health risks of sitting down, and the results are startling.

In the article “Why Sitting is a Dangerous Health Threat,” reporter Kate Lanau breaks down one of the latest studies that links sitting “to obesity, diabetes and the major killers, heart disease and cancer.”

She goes as far as to compare sitting to smoking and obesity, saying that exercise alone may not be enough.

Clued into this issue by Clay Stauffer, physical education faculty, professors at Hesston are now starting to stand at their desk.  Since Karen LeVan, English faculty member, started standing at her desk she says she feels more productive, less tired, and has more energy.

As a yoga instructor, LeVan noted several other advantages to standing: Standing gives us better bodily alignment and increases bone density.

Marissa King, education faculty member, adds that she can concentrate better, has less tension and just an “all-around-better attitude.” King explaisn how important it is to create a healthy environment at her office, since she puts in so many hours at school. Now, she says, she has a “second home that feels more like my first home.”

Both professors have encourage not just other teachers, but students, to “just try it.”

If you look online today, stand-up desks sell for big bucks, but neither of these teachers had to dip into their savings. They simply found a box and propped their computers there. Karen even used her old toy chest she had as a little girl. Something as simple as a crate would fit perfectly in the dorm rooms.

After all, “We are a part of a community that is trying to healthier,” said LeVan.