Sitting for long hours linked to visceral fat

Sitting for long hours leads to building of fat around the body's organs and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. A study found people who spent a large amount of time sitting down had higher levels of visceral and total abdominal fat. Visceral fat is unseen and wrapped around the liver, pancreas and kidneys. Carrying a high amount is known to be associated with insulin resistance - the driving factor for type 2 diabetes.

There's a difference between subcutaneous fat, the type of fat that lies directly under the skin and visceral fat, which is unseen and around human organs. According to an expert, slim-looking people can have this dangerous fat on the inside, that's wrapped around the liver, pancreas and kidneys.
Visceral abdominal fat is also linked to an increased risk of cancer, stroke and heart disease. Researchers used MRI to scan  participants who were likely to develop type 2 diabetes. They also used ccelerometers that were placed around their waists to measure how much time these people spent sitting over the course of a week.

The researchers found that the link between visceral fat and sitting was strongest for those who did not meet the public health recommendation of 150 weekly minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity. Using MRI techniques and physical activity monitors have shown that the more time spent sedentary, the stronger the association with higher levels of internal and abdominal fat. This was particularly so if the long periods of sedentary behavior were uninterrupted.

When cortisol the stress hormone is too high for too long, it can increase the amount of fat that's stored around the stomach. Dieting alone is not enough combining healthy eating with stress management techniques can help. Cortisol is created in the body’s adrenal gland, it is essential to give get-up-and-go human need to get motivated and focused, which is why it’s usually elevated in the morning. It's also released during exercise and periods of acute stress. It regulates energy by selecting the right amount of carbohydrate, fat, or protein the body needs to meet the physiological demands placed on it.

Cortisol is released from the body’s adrenal glands and floods the body with glucose  when the body is stressed, the simplest form of carbohydrate and preferred energy source – to give muscles an immediate supply of energy. Insulin-the hormone that reduces blood sugar – is also released to prevent the glucose being stored as fat and make it freely available to give the immediate energy to deal with an event. Hormone balance will returns to normal when stress is reduce.
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