Sedentary Lifestyle

Lipetsk Municipal Autonomous Educational Institution

Secondary School with Advanced Study of Individual School Subjects № 55

LINGVIST

Sedentary Lifestyle

Alina Ruslanovna Sviridonova, 11B grade

Mentor:

Komar ElenaViktorovna, the teacher of English

Lipetsk 2019

Contents

Introduction …………………………………………………………………………….  2

Research …………………………………………………………………………........... 3

Reasons of a sedentary lifestyle ………………………………………………………... 5

Scientific research ……………………………………………………………………… 6

Recommendations …………………………………………………………………….  7

Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………… 7

Bibliography and media resources ……………………………………………………… 8

Appendix ………………………………………………………………………………... 9

INTRODUCTION

We live in the rapidly changing world. Technological advances have made things that once we considered miracles real and available for everyone.  Nevertheless, every coin has two sides and human’s achievements go side by side with new problems and troubles. In this way the question arises if it is possible to resist and avoid all negative impacts and hazards of contemporary lifestyle and what people can do to keep fit and healthy.

The purpose of the research is to detect the impact of a sedentary lifestyle on people’s physical growth and health.

The object of study is a daily regimen of a statistically average person, his or her motor activity.

Relevance of the chosen subject:

A sedentary lifestyle is one of the major problems of a modern society, which can result in serious diseases and even death.

Hypothesis:

A man is able to cope with a problem of a sedentary lifestyle in the era of technological progress.

Novelty of the study:

The results can be used for advertising a healthy lifestyle and coming out with a newsletter warning. So, it will allow students enrich their vocabulary and have a good talk with their parents about the issue.

RESEARCH

The purpose of the survey is to detect the existence of the problem in the social surrounding.

Two groups of people took part in the survey:

1. 15-16 years old teenagers
2. Adults (their parents), 40 and older years’ old

Progress:

1. To determine how many hours they spend sitting during their typical working day.

1. 2-4 hours         b) 5-7 hours   c) 8 hours and even more

2. To find out how much time a day they spend at the computer, with their gadgets or in front of a TV set.

1. 1-2 hours             3-5 hours      

3. To find out how often they do sport.

1. regularly              b) seldom              c) do not do any sport

4. To find out how they prefer relax.

1. actively (in the fitness centers, swimming pools, doing camping, hiking, etc… .
2. at home, in the cinema or in the café

2. How often they suffer from headaches and backaches.

1. very seldom    b) often

6) To make a conclusion.

Analysis of the survey

1. According to the bar chart (Appendix 1) 68% of teenagers and 70 % of adults spend 5-7 hours of their working day sitting. Besides, 12% of teenagers and 5% of adults spend even more than 8 hours without physical activity.
2. The chart shows that the significant number of teenagers and their parents spend their time in front of the TV set, computer or other gadgets (Appendix 2).
3. At the same time, there a lot more teenagers than grown-ups who go in for sport regularly. However, there is an alarming symptom that 60% of schoolchildren do sport only in PE classes (Appendix 3).
4. As time off, the majority of teenagers prefer active pastime to relax, whereas older generation choose spend their days off and their vacations peacefully at home, in the country house or in the company of their friends in the café (Appendix 4).

5. Unfortunately, all respondents suffer from similar headache and backache problems (Appendix 5).

Based on these data, I can conclude that the problem of a sedentary lifestyle exists and, more than that, cause negative impact on people.

REASONS OF A SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE

A sedentary lifestyle or the lack of activity is the disturbance of man’s organism functioning due to poor physical activity or inactivity.

 The activity of people's lifestyle is indicated rather easy. If a person walks less than 30 minutes a day, his way of life is considered to be sedentary and it can be dangerous for health and functioning visceral organs.

The problem of a sedentary lifestyle is a side effect of a technological and scientific advance. As a society we spend more time sitting than we perhaps ever have, fact revealed by comparison of labour market trends in 1970 and 2000. The world we live is full of    electronic and mechanical appliances and devices. People go by car, bus, train or plane. There are more and more people who drive their own cars. Nowadays we cannot imagine our life without all modern conveniences and technologies.  

The desire to build their career makes people work more and spend their time at the desks in the office. They leave their chair only for a short period of time for fetching papers they need from another room or office. They often spend their lunchtime going downstairs in the café located in the same building. As a result, their back muscles strain and suffer most of all muscles during the day.

There is one more reason. It is not necessary to leave home for the library if you want to get information, to get prepared for classes or a project, to get advice and another sort of things. Everything can be found on the Internet rather fast and effectively. Moreover, a contemporary generation prefers on-line films, and face- to-face communication replaces by chatting with their friends in the social sites.

Schoolchildren do not feel bored on-line gaming. They can use Wi-Fi and their smart phones for the same purpose even they are not at home.  Active games in the fresh air have become less popular among children and teenagers.

As a result, people become sluggish, irritable and depressed (Appendix 6).  They suffer from insomnia, bad appetite and panic attacks.   All of this disturbs and ruins man’s mind.

Then, it directly leads to cardio-vascular system problems and diseases. The stream of blood becomes slower and weaker.  

Moreover, the decline of physical activity objectively leads to the loss of muscular tone and weakening the human’s organism in general.

The building of musculoskeletal system is of paramount importance for teenagers. Their organism is constantly growing. That is why the role of  Physical Education is significant for their health.

          But not only teenagers and young people need physical activity. A sedentary lifestyle causes the decay of spinal musculature, fragile bones and a round back.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

According to the scientists, examining the way of life of about 8,000 people there exists a direct connection between a sedentary lifestyle and early mortality.
           The data published in the journal  Annals of Internal Medicine in 2017 declare: 

“Movement is the road to health” (Appendix 7).

Experts recommend to do exercises every 30 minutes. Regardless how active you are going in for sport, sitting for a longer periods of time is the crucial factor of early mortality. The more you sit, the more the risk is.

American Heart Association calls “Sit less, move more”.    

Although the leading expert of Columbia University Department of Medicine Keith Diaz is sure that this advice is too general. He says that it is necessary to stand up and walk fast for 5 minutes after every 30 minutes of sitting to avoid the risk for health.

            To understand better the interconnection between a sedentary lifestyle and mortality Keith Diaz and his collogues from New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell health center and other Medicare establishments turned to the research carried out by National Institute of Health.

Diaz and his colleagues had been measured, collected and processed data of about 8,000 different race aged 45 and more adult people, who took part in the research, for four years. To measure the time of their sitting the researchers used accelerometers attached to their hip joints. During this period the team fixed 340 cases of death because of different reasons. Analyzing the data, the specialists found out that their sitting time was 12,3 hours a day while their wake time was 16 hours. Measuring the duration, the scientists made the people sit, on average, per 11,4 minutes successively. With the increasing the time of sitting, the rate of early mortality raised too. This tendency doesn’t depend on age, gender, race, body mass index or muscle loading.

Diaz concluded that those who sat more than 13 hours a day had a 200% risk of mortality compared to those who sat less than 11 hours. To put it other way,

Those who usually sat less than 30 minutes, had a 55% less risk than those who sat more than 30 minutes.

Diaz declared, “If your job and your lifestyle involve sitting stationary for a long period of time, the better recommendation is to move every half an hour. So your change in behavior can decrease the risk of early mortality.”  

Recommendations

Scientists elaborate the recommendations to struggle with the level of load upon spine bone while doing the sedentary lifestyle (Appendix 7).

• .         To do daily physical activity: any exercises which strengthen spine muscles, bends, crunching the abdominals, Pilates, stretching out all groups of muscles.
• To sit as little as possible, keep moving. To forget about a lift, while moving around the building.
• To forget about your car, bus and other vehicle, do long walks on weekends.
• To distribute the household chores to move more: going shopping, taking the child from the kindergarten and so on.
• Pay attention to the way you carry heavy bags. A backpack is better than a purse as it guarantees equal spreading the load on both shoulders.
• To control your body while sitting at the computer, lean against the seatback. Try not to strain yourself. The armchair must be tuned. Take regular breaks to walk and do simple exercises for stretching spine muscles.
• To keep sound sleep, choose a right mattress and a right pillow to provide your back and neck comfort for relax, find the right sleeping position.
• To watch the weight.  Overweight results in desire to lead a sedentary lifestyle that becomes habitual.
• To take up dancing no matter where, while doing housework, in the lift, everywhere. It allows to unload spine muscles and get rid of extra calories.

Conclusion

                   Taking everything given above into consideration, it is possible to come to conclusion that a sedentary lifestyle is wide-spread, affects and even endangers people’s health. Nevertheless, if people are aware of all possible consequences, they have a lot of opportunities to struggle with it and keep their life healthy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

1. http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Sports%20Physiology/SedentaryLifestyle.pdf

2. https://www.imena.ua/blog/risking-sitting
3. https://cross.expert/zdorovye-atleta/sidyachij-obraz-zhizni.html
4. https://sport-at-home.ru/malopodvizhnyj-obraz-zhizni-chem-grozit-i-kak-borotsya.html
5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-180906 beating a sedentary lifestyle
6. https://kod-zdorovia.com.ua/article/762.html

APPENDIX

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

Appendix 6

Appendix 7

Appendix 8