By Kotaro Ito, Staff Writer
Students and adults may be leading themselves to an earlier death, caused by an addictive and comforting action called sitting. From physical injuries to cancer, how we look at sitting will greatly affect our life.
According to research by Nicholas Bakalar of The New York Times, the estimated sitting time across the country is 4.7 hours a day. Baklar states that a 50% reduction of sitting can reduce mortalities by 2.3%. You will extend your life for years depending on the time that has been spent sitting for the individual.
“People usually sit in three patterns. 70, 90, and 135 degree angle. Sitting at an angle of 135 degrees increases the tendency for a person to slide off a chair. Sitting at an angle less than 135 degrees angle is recommended,” said BBC News.
Some chairs, especially in schools, make it easy for your body to slide down both voluntarily and involuntarily.
“Typically, conventional chairs have had a rigid seat that inclines backwards and merges into a seating hollow. This design can cause lack of blood circulation; rounding of the back; tense should, neck and back muscles; constricted digestive organs, and spinal cord pressure,” said Smith Systems, a manufacturing company for furnitures, specializing those mostly found in schools.
Another problem of the everyday schools chairs aren’t the health decimating design flaws, but the sizes of the chairs. For some large companies, restaurants and schools, materials are bought in bulk which include the chairs. Schools do not have the time and resources to measure the size of every students to buy a chair that perfectly fits their accommodations.
“Children wildly range in size, growth, strength and cognitive ability. Over 83% of school children sit at chair-desk combinations that are not suitable for their body height,” said Smith Systems.
A small effort of standing or walking once in a while may repay you in the future as a privilege to live longer. Who knows? Maybe we’ll live to be a 100, a goal that may be easily accomplished by the views on sitting.
