Nilofer Merchant on the health consequences of sitting too much
A conversation with author and business innovator Nilofer Merchant about how sitting has become "the new smoking."
Physical inactivity has been called the biggest public health problem of our time. It's linked to heart disease, diabetes and cancer; but sitting is the trans fat of inactivity. Aside from being hard on your back, sitting too much means your metabolism changes, so you burn less fat; it increases your risk of disability in old age; it's bad for your immune system; and it has been tied to all manner of chronic diseases. It even diminishes your brain power.
But our lives are built around sitting - in offices, at desks, while watching TV, in the theatre - and there has been no public policy response to the dangers of sitting.
Nilofer Merchant gave a very popular TED Talk last year called Got A Meeting? You can watch it by clicking here.