How can inactivity hurt your health?

Author: Dr. Yvette Schulist IV  |  Last update: Thursday, January 15, 2026

Physical inactivity puts adults at greater risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, type 2 diabetes, dementia and cancers such as breast and colon. The study was undertaken by researchers from WHO together with academic colleagues and published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

How does inactivity affect your health?

By not getting regular exercise, you raise your risk of: Obesity. Heart diseases, including coronary artery disease and heart attack. High blood pressure.

What happens to your body when you are inactive?

You may lose muscle strength and endurance, because you are not using your muscles as much. Your bones may get weaker and lose some mineral content. Your metabolism may be affected, and your body may have more trouble breaking down fats and sugars. Your immune system may not work as well.

What happens to your body if you don't exercise?

Within the first weeks: The body starts to undergo biological changes in muscle size that can lead to weight gain. Over the long-term: Physical inactivity can lead to greater risks for major health problems, from heart disease and diabetes to early death.

What are the health problems with sitting all day?

Research has linked sitting for long periods of time with a number of health concerns. They include obesity and a cluster of conditions — increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and unhealthy cholesterol levels — that make up metabolic syndrome.

A sedentary life: a painful life

What happens to your body when you are sedentary?

If you live a sedentary lifestyle, you have a higher chance of being overweight, developing type 2 diabetes or heart disease, and experiencing depression and anxiety.

Is it bad to not move all day?

Research shows that staying stationary – whether sitting or standing – for long periods of time, can be bad for your health. Our bodies are built to move and doing so for approximately three minutes every hour helps us feel our best. Once you start moving, you'll notice: Increased energy.

What are symptoms of not exercising?

Sedentary Lifestyle: 10 Signs You Aren't Active Enough
  • High blood cholesterol and blood pressure.
  • Heart diseases including coronary artery disease and heart attack.
  • Obesity.
  • Metabolic syndrome.
  • Stroke.
  • Weaker immune system.
  • Type 2 diabetes.
  • Colon, breast, and uterine cancers.

What are the effects of an unhealthy lifestyle?

Millions of people follow an unhealthy lifestyle. Hence, they encounter illness, disability and even death. Problems like metabolic diseases, joint and skeletal problems, cardio-vascular diseases, hypertension, overweight, violence and so on, can be caused by an unhealthy lifestyle.

What happens to people who never exercise?

Without physical activity and exercise, muscles become weaker, and in turn, so will you. Weak muscles impact even the most basic of functions such as breathing, walking, and moving. In addition to the physical benefits of exercise, it also improves sleep for many people.

Does inactivity age you?

Sedentary behavior promotes most of the hallmarks of aging in muscular cells. Its impact may be modulated by age, muscle fiber typology, and sedentary duration. More research is needed regarding genetic-related hallmarks and cellular senescence.

How do you tell if you are unfit?

How To Assess If You Are Out of Shape
  1. Feeling out of breath during physical activity,
  2. Having difficulty maintaining a good, upright posture.
  3. Having a high resting heart rate or blood pressure.
  4. A prolonged recovery time from exercise or poor endurance,
  5. Increased muscle soreness after low-intensity physical activity.

What happens if you are inactive for a long time?

Some issues that can be attributed to lack of physical activity are heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and stroke. Any or all of these conditions should be enough to deter anyone from being inactive.

What is weakness due to inactivity?

Lack of use. Lack of muscle fitness (deconditioning) is one of the most common causes of muscle weakness. It may occur as a result of an inactive (sedentary) lifestyle. If muscles are not used then the fibres within the muscles are partially replaced with fat.

Does inactivity weaken the heart?

It is estimated that approximately 35% of coronary heart disease mortality is due to physical inactivity.

How many hours should you sit a day?

According to the charity Just Stand, the following thresholds determine a person's risk of developing health problems due to sitting: Low risk: Sitting for less than 4 hours per day. Medium risk: Sitting for 4–8 hours per day. High risk: Sitting for 8–11 hours per day.

What are the dangers of physical inactivity?

Physical inactivity puts adults at greater risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, type 2 diabetes, dementia and cancers such as breast and colon. The study was undertaken by researchers from WHO together with academic colleagues and published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

What is the most unhealthy habit?

7 unhealthy habits to quit this year
  • Smoking. This is a tough habit to break, yet it consistently tops the list of things physicians recommend people avoid. ...
  • Sitting all day. ...
  • Poor eating habits. ...
  • Running on too little sleep. ...
  • Avoiding the doctor. ...
  • Not making time for yourself. ...
  • Staying in a comfortable mental rut.

What happens to your body when you stop moving?

Spending most of your time sitting raises your risk of heart disease. That's partly because you're more likely to have high blood pressure, a big risk factor for heart issues like coronary artery disease and heart attack.

How does an inactive lifestyle affect your health?

Sedentary behaviors have wide-ranging adverse impacts on the human body including increased all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, cancer risk, and risks of metabolic disorders such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia; musculoskeletal disorders such as arthralgia and osteoporosis; ...

What are the side effects of sitting too long?

Other research has linked prolonged sitting or other sedentary behavior to diabetes, poor heart health, weight gain, depression, dementia, and multiple cancers. It's a habit that seems to start early.

Can lack of exercise make you ill?

To reduce our risk of ill health from inactivity, we are advised to exercise regularly, at least 150 minutes a week, and reduce sitting time. Studies have linked being inactive with being overweight and obese, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, and early death.

Is it bad to stay home all day everyday?

Research has shown a lack of sunlight can affect circadian rhythms, which can have negative impacts on sleep patterns. It can affect a person's hormones when they don't have a chance to see the sun. "Your serotonin and dopamine levels get affected by not being outside and that affects depression," says Dr.

Is it better to walk throughout the day or all at once?

How to Get Your Steps In. Don't think you have to get all your steps in at once for it to count. If you walk in small increments throughout the day, you'll not only add to your step count as much as if you walked all at once, but you'll also break up the times during the day that you're sitting.

How do you know if you are sedentary?

Spending More Than Half of Waking Hours Not Moving

That number is the number of hours in the day you have to be active and engaged. If you spend more than 50 percent of that time sitting, reclining, and not moving, it's important to find ways to change this," says Suzanne Steinbaum, MD of Heart-Tech Health.

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