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This is the BBC. This

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podcast is supported by advertising outside

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the UK. Hey

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there, it's Michelle Norris. I'm host of a podcast

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called Your Mama's Kitchen. When I travel, I'm usually

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looking for a way to find a taste of

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home when I'm not at home. And one of

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the things I love to do when I am

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at home is entertain. And Airbnb allows me to

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do that. When I was in

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California recently, I rented a house

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that had a great kitchen. And when we were sitting

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around the table, we were all thinking, we're in someone

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else's house. Someone could be in

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all of our homes as well. If

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out how much at

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airbnb.com/host. Am

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Ryan Reynolds recently I us Mint Mobile

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legal team if big wireless companies are

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They said yes And then when I

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asked if raising prices technically violates those

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onerous to your contracts, they said what

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the fuck are you talking about you

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Insane Hollywood As so to recap, were

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month was talking a these promoting for new customers are limited time

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unlimited within. Pretty good bye to the my clothes bathrooms that Mint

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mobile.com. Hello.

1:25

This is 6 Minute English from

1:27

BBC Learning English. I'm Phil. And

1:36

I'm Georgie. We all know

1:38

how important exercise is to stay fit

1:40

and reduce the risk of heart disease.

1:43

Do you exercise much, Phil? I try

1:46

to. I ride my bike at the weekend. But

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to be honest, I do spend a lot of

1:51

time sitting down. Sitting too much is becoming

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an increasing problem in the modern world. Maybe

1:56

you take the bus or train to work. Then

1:59

you sit down. Then sit at a desk

2:01

all day. Then go home feeling tired and

2:03

just sit in front of the television all

2:05

evening as well. Added

2:07

together, that's hours of sitting every

2:10

single day. In this

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programme we'll be finding out exactly how

2:14

much sitting is too much. And of

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course we'll be learning some useful new

2:18

vocabulary. But first, are

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you sitting comfortably Phil? Because I have a

2:22

question for you. On average,

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how many hours a day do British

2:27

adults spend sitting down? Is it

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A. 7 hours, B. 9 hours or

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C. 12 hours? I'll

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guess it's 7 hours. OK

2:38

Phil, I'll reveal the correct answer later.

2:41

Charlotte Edwardson is a Professor of

2:44

Health and Behaviour Studies who has

2:46

investigated the link between sitting and

2:48

health problems in her lab at

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Leicester University. Here she

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talks to BBC Radio 4 programme Inside Health.

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If we think about our daily activities, a

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lot of activities are done sitting down. Movement

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in our everyday lives has really been engineered

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out with advances in technology and our bodies

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just weren't designed to sit this much so

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it's going to cause problems with our health.

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So when you sit down, you're not using the largest

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muscles in your body. So these are the ones in

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your legs and your bum. So

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that means that your muscle activity

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goes down. When your muscle activity

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goes down, your blood circulation reduces.

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Throughout history, humans have always walked and

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moved their bodies. Now,

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modern technologies like motorised vehicles

3:29

and office jobs means we

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spend more and more time

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sitting. Modern life has engineered out

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the need for us to move. When

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you engineer something out, you design things

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in such a way that it is

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no longer required. For

3:45

example, CD drives have been

3:47

engineered out of laptops because

3:49

downloads are more popular. Charlotte

3:52

says humans are not used to

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sitting this much. Here,

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the words this much mean in

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such large amounts. It's

4:01

a negative thing. One negative

4:03

being the harms of blood circulation,

4:06

the flow of blood through the heart

4:08

and blood vessels which carries oxygen around

4:10

the body. When

4:12

we sit, we stop using

4:14

important muscles. This reduces

4:17

blood circulation and causes a range

4:19

of other effects like increased levels

4:21

of glucose and feet and

4:23

decreased energy levels. The

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body uses 20% more

4:28

energy when simply standing than when

4:30

sitting down, and walking uses

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92% more energy.

4:35

And that's not to mention the damage sitting

4:37

too much causes to muscle movement and blood

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pressure. But the hard

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truth is that sitting is a big part

4:43

of modern life. Everything

4:46

is geared around sitting.

4:48

It's organised towards that

4:50

particular activity. And that makes

4:52

it hard to stop. Here's

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Professor Edwardson again talking with

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James Gallagher, presenter of BBC

4:59

Radio 4 programme Inside

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Health. How much

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do you feel like you're just swimming against the

5:05

tide with all of this? Like the whole of

5:07

society is driving us more and more towards sitting

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down all the time. And you're

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like, please don't! Sitting

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is so much part of our everyday

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activities. You know, you go

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into meetings and come and take a seat.

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You go into your GP surgery, come and

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take a seat. Everything's geared around sitting and

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as technology advances and it tries to make

5:27

our life easier, it then leads to us

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sitting even more. James

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asks if Charlotte is swimming against the

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tide of modern life. If

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you're swimming against the tide, you're doing the

5:39

opposite of what most people are doing. He

5:42

also says that society is driving

5:44

us towards sitting more. To

5:47

drive someone towards something means pushing

5:49

them to accept a new situation,

5:52

even when the situation isn't so good. Luckily,

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there's some simple advice to help. Break

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up periods of sitting 30 minutes or more.

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with a few minutes of walking or

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moving your arms. Also, try to

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spend less than half of your waking

6:06

hours sitting down. Good

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to know. Now, about your

6:10

question Georgie. Right. My

6:13

question was how long does the

6:15

average British adult spend sitting each

6:17

day? Phil guessed it

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was seven hours which was close

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but not right I'm afraid. In

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fact, on average we spend nine

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hours per day sitting down. That's

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about 60% of

6:30

our waking life. So remember

6:32

to take regular breaks even just

6:35

a minute or two. Okay, let's

6:37

recap the vocabulary we've learnt.

6:39

Starting with to engineer something

6:41

out, meaning to design or

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plan in such a way that

6:46

something is no longer needed. The

6:48

phrase this much or so much

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means in such large amounts. Blood

6:53

circulation is the movement of blood through

6:55

the heart and blood vessels which carries

6:57

oxygen around the body. If

7:00

things are geared around a certain

7:02

activity or purpose they're organised to

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support it. The

7:06

idiom to swim against the tide means

7:09

to not follow what most people are

7:11

doing. And finally, to drive

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someone towards a new situation means

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to push them towards accepting it.

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Once again our six minutes are up.

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Remember to join us again next time

7:23

for more topical discussion and useful vocabulary

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here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for

7:27

now. Bye.