Whether you work at home or in an office, chances are you’re glued to an office chair all day, or stuck behind a computer screen, and the only parts of your body getting any kind of significant exercise are your typing fingers. Our modern world is designed to encourage a sedentary lifestyle. In fact, just about every modern convenience is centered around making us as physically inactive as possible. Elevators, escalators, all forms of transport, television, fast foods – all are designed to make our lives “easier’ and, in the process, almost completely sedentary.

While our work requires us to be mentally agile, most of us lead a physically inactive lifestyle that can lead to a number of health problems. Recent studies have shown that a sedentary lifestyle can be more potentially dangerous to our health than smoking. In a study recently carried out at the University of Hong Kong, researchers found that 20% of deaths in people over the age of 35 could be directly attributed to physical inactivity. That is a higher percentage than death caused through smoking.

A sedentary lifestyle can also lead to weight gain and obesity which, in turn, contributes to diseases such as heart disease and type II diabetes. In the modern world, working requires very little physical effort and the more physically inactive we are, the un-healthier we become. » Read more: Tips for Avoiding a Sedentary Lifestyle