THE VICIOUSNESS OF INACTIVITY

Extended inactivity is as bad for your health as smoking or obesity. I actually think it is worse. We become more inactive as we get older because we sit so much more. Sitting creates many problems for us.

What happens when we sit so much?

  • Our core weakens: When the core is weaker the body is less supported, particularly the spine. Compression on tender spinal joints then has a bigger impact exacerbating or creating problems like sciatica, spinal stenosis, arthritis of the spine.
  • Our body stiffens particularly the leg and spine joints.
  • The muscles at the back of the legs shorten and tighten producing leg cramps, difficulty walking and foot problems like plantar fasciitis.
  • Posture worsens: The shoulders roll forward, the back of the neck shortens and tightens, and the ribcage compresses down making breathing shallower.
  • Circulation worsens: Health declines when circulation worsens.
  • Toxicity persists longer in the body: As we sit inactive, our normal body functions slow. As a result the toxins produced as a natural effect of eating and breathing are expelled at a slower pace, remaining in our body longer. Excess toxicity often displays as feelings of irritability.
  • Extended sitting causes us to feel tired and sluggish: It seems like a paradox as does the reverse. Doing something gives us energy.
  • Depression increases.
  • We fall more.
  • Inactivity affects us mentally as well.

But it's actually worse than that.

This description is not stark enough to really describe the extent of what happens to our body, our mind and our spirit when we do nothing. Far more destructive effects occur than I feel are generally understood. 
  • Inactivity ends up with us feeling yucky: When we go to move after being inactive, we experience stiffness but it is worse that that. Moving feels lousy to us. Our joints hurt. Our stamina is shot. We feel weak. But the most profound to me is that moving feels "yucky". It almost feels like being sick. It's an uncomfortable feeling and one that we try to avoid at all costs no matter the ultimate benefit.
  • Toxicity increases when we are less active: That toxicity becomes a challenge all its own: It deprives us of life and energy. It makes us grumpy and even quick to anger. 
  • The mental changes are particularly insidious: Extended inactivity actually has the potential to change our personality! Have you ever known anyone who suffered from alcohol addiction? Heavy drinkers will sometimes have profound personality changes when they drink too much, often becoming vicious. You might think of that as increased toxicity that the excess alcohol introduced. Excessive inactivity changes personality too. The most notable change I have observed is that the person who sits too long gets more and more stubborn, irritable and resistant to wellness.
  • We don't realize the changes that take place with inactivity: The progression to stiffness in mind and body is gradual and we don't realize they are happening. Most people associate noticeable changes with simply getting old. (This of course is a myth. Age is not what makes us old. Inactivity is.)

A profound realization:
The longer you sit, the less you want to do.
Doing less makes us feel older, weaker and more depressed.

More on the effects of toxicity:

Have you ever woken up in the morning, feeling irritable and not understood why? I think the answer is toxicity. We build up toxins in our bodies from all sorts of causes: environmental pollution, emotional upset, stress, illness, addiction, old injuries or abuse ... and being inactive. And that is in addition to the toxicity introduced through normal physical processes like breathing and eating where some elements are not used and therefore eliminated. For example, as we remove oxygen from the air we breathe, the leftover carbon dioxide becomes a toxin to be automatically removed through the breathing process. (This is one reason deep breathing is so important. When we breathe shallowly, carbon dioxide remains in the body longer than we would like. Hearty deep breathing more quickly extracts it, leaving us happier and healthier.)
With inactivity, the stiffness that comes from doing little allows additional toxins to build up in the joints and muscles: If we've been inactive for a while, that buildup becomes chronic. When we go to move or stretch the area, toxin gets released from the joints and muscles and into the blood stream to be flushed out of the system via the kidneys, liver, skin, etc. During this process we may experience the effects of these toxins as a feeling that is disturbing. Maybe it is a miserable feeling or being out of sorts or feeling vulnerable. We will often assign the cause of this discomfort as something other than what it is. Perhaps we dismiss it as feeling "old" or awkward. But what it really is our body's reaction to excess toxins.
Here is a illustration about how this all works: Massage is wonderful for us. Often the masseuse will recommend that you drink lots of water afterwards. The reason why is because entrenched toxins are released from the muscles by the massage. Drinking copious amounts of water helps the kidneys process those toxins out of the body quickly. If you don't drink lots of water afterwards, you may well end up feeling lousy instead of relaxed.
I find that it is quite useful to think of our health and well being in terms of how toxins might be affecting us with a goal to limit or reduce those poisons. I have written about it as a separate issue and I recommend that you review that article as well as several others. An article titled "Deflame" is particularly helpful in dealing with toxins endemic in the current political climate. Links are shown at the end of this feature.

My own journey:

Late in the winter of 2024, I was diagnosed with a compression fracture of my lumbar spine. Being an active professional dancer, this diagnosis was bound to change my life, at least for a while. The treatment was to keep my spine immobile for 6-7 weeks to allow the fracture to heal. I dance every day so this was an extreme change for me. I persevered and kept training while still not allowing anything that would stress my spine. My vertebrae healed and I managed to get through the treatment without loosing too much of my dance ability by adapting to circumstances.
What I didn't count on was the recuperation that followed. Bringing flexibility back to my spine joints after they had been kept inactive for so long was a task far more difficult than anticipated. And it took longer too. Spine movement was unpleasant and felt "yucky" for several months until I brought my spine back to its healthy self. I got to experience inactivity up close and personal.

Why is it that we never want to exercise?

Understanding this process helps to explain why we are so resistant to exercise. Please know that many times you will not want to exercise, even if it is the best thing in the world for you to do. Your resistance and discomfort around the concept of exercise may well be caused by toxicity in your body and especially in your mind. Many times you will not want to exercise. Do it anyway. This is especially important during the first few weeks of a new exercise routine.

​If you have gone through a long period of inactivity then you will need even more patience. Work slowly and carefully and never give up. Things will get better. You will feel better. You will be better. But you must persevere and do what is best for you and your body, not your feelings or not your personality.

The bottom line:

1) If you have been inactive, don't be surprised when it is hard to start exercising because you probably won't want to. Use your mind to motivate yourself instead of listening to your feelings.

2) If you feel lousy or irritable: Exercise and drink lots of water to get rid of that toxicity.

Some proof of how sedentary behavior is dangerous for us:

As I was preparing this article, a study was published and reported by MedPage Today that correlated inactivity with fatal coronary disease. Patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndrome were evaluated one year after release from the hospital. Here are the report's findings:

"Sedentary behavior was associated with increased risk of 1-year cardiac events/mortality among patients evaluated for acute coronary syndrome. Replacing sedentary behavior with sleep, light-intensity physical activity, or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with lower risk. These findings highlight reducing sedentary behavior as a potential strategy to improve posthospitalization outcomes."

This is just one example of the real effects of inactivity. Obviously the outcomes were for people who were already quite ill and refer to how sedentary behavior after hospitalization affected them further. But it illustrates how inactivity can be considerably worse for our health than even sleeping or than light to heavier exercise.

Other related Building Better Balance articles:

Published May 26, 2025.