Sitting down too much, in the office or home, causes cellulite - even if you exercise three times a week
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Cellulite from sitting down: does your computer and mobile phone give you cellulite?
Does working from home cause cellulite? Yes, even more so than working from the office.
Does working from home cause cellulite? Yes, even more than working from the office.
Does sitting cause cellulite? Lack of movement has a direct effect on skin firmness.
Sugar - great for your office work, bad for your bum and thighs
Fat doesn’t just make you fat, it indirectly makes your skin loose too
Sitting down weakens your blood vessels and leads to water retention
Water retention, sugar and certain oils and fats lead to chronic, low grade inflammation
Sugar causes glycation, which damages your skin and connective tissue, making them loose and inflamed
Drinks after work impair liver function and detoxification
It’s obvious: computer work and sitting down give you cellulite
Mobile phones and social media give you cellulite
How to prevent cellulite, water retention and skin looseness
15 lifestyle changes to prevent computers, office work, mobile phones and social media from ruining your body
The good news: technology can also be used to fight cellulite and body shape decline
In summary
Not a miracle, but the only way
Check our professional consultancy in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening
Cellulite from sitting down: does your computer and mobile phone give you cellulite?
Sitting is the new smoking, some scientists say, and causes numerous health conditions, EVEN if you exercise three times a week.
The one hour of exercise three times a week, that most people do, is simply not enough.
Inactivity is THE biggest cause of loose skin and one of the main causes of cellulite, REGARDLESS OF DIET.
For the majority of office workers, work today is almost totally sedentary, most of the time involving just finger movement on the computer, the tablet or the mobile phone. This, as we will see, is a major cause of water retention, cellulite and loose skin, especially in combination with a poor diet.
At the same time, the opportunities to consume calorific snacks abound, with the majority of vending machines in offices typically dispensing crisps, fizzy drinks and chocolate bars, making the situation worse.
So let’s have a look how computers and mobile phones, and sedentary life in the office or at home, cause cellulite, loose skin and water retention and what you can practically do about it.
Does working from home cause cellulite? Yes, even more than working from the office.
At home, where most people work from nowadays, food may be better for most people but there is even less movement than when working from the office.
The truth is that the commute to work contributes a few thousand steps every day, which used to help. Now the commute is from the bedroom to the living room or home office, i.e. 15 steps or so, each way.
So working from home is even worse for cellulite, skin looseness and water retention, due to the sheer lack of physical activity.
Does sitting cause cellulite? Lack of movement has a direct effect on skin firmness.
Your body needs mechanical stimulation to maintain collagen and elastin synthesis, as well as fibroblast (collagen cell) population. This mechanical stimulation naturally comes from walking or other types of movement (running, swimming, dancing etc.).
Without mechanical stimulation, skin gradually becomes loose and muscles lose their tone and strength (even bones lose their density). This tissue loss effect from not moving enough is in addition to the effect of inactivity on calorie balance, which makes us fat.
So in summary, the answer to the question “does sitting cause cellulite” is that:
Cellulite doesn’t just make you overweight and gives you cellulite due to not burning calories, but it directly makes your skin loose. Plus it makes your blood vessels weaker, giving you water retention too.
Sugar - great for your office work, bad for your bum and thighs
On the other hand, consumption of sugar-rich food, such as chocolates, crisps, croissants and fizzy drinks feeds and stimulates the brain throughout the day, helping you complete your tasks on the computer, but it also leads to fat accumulation.
Glucose, derived from sugar, fruits and starchy foods, is the main fuel for the brain, but not all glucose extracted from food finds its way into the brain. Unfortunately, a lot of it ends up in your butt, thighs and stomach.
Fructose, derived from sugar and fruits, has the same fate too: it is metabolised in the liver into triglycerides (i.e. fat) and ends up in your butt even more easily than glucose.
Furthermore, eating too much and moving too little during the day also leads to fat accumulation, even if the foods consumed are healthy and not just fat and sugar.
Fat doesn’t just make you fat, it indirectly makes your skin loose too
Excess fat accumulation also leads to skin looseness.
This is because when fat tissue accumulates fat, it breaks down collagen tissue around it to make room for its expansion. This is the reason why the areas where fat grows become loose and flabby: firm-giving collagen is broken down to make way for those soft and squishy fat cells.
Any fat that accumulates, breaks down the structure of your connective tissue and makes it loose. Fat, literally, eats away into your skin and connective tissue that keep your skin firm.
This effect is in addition to the flabbiness created by the loss of collagen, due to inactivity, mentioned above.
So in summary, loose skin is caused BOTH by not moving AND by accumulating fat (whatever the initial cause of fat accumulation).
Sitting down weakens your blood vessels and leads to water retention
Furthermore, sitting down all day is proven to inhibit circulation and lymphatic drainage, especially on the legs, with the consumption of sugar and fat making the situation even worse (sugar and fat are detrimental to lymphatic function).
The end result is water retention.
Water retention, sugar and certain oils and fats lead to chronic, low grade inflammation
Water retention is also fertile ground for the appearance of low grade inflammation. In return, low grade inflammation leads to water retention, creating a vicious cycle.
Excess sugar and fat are also responsible for low grade inflammation.
Furthermore, an excess intake of oxidised fat, trans-fatty acids (hydrogenated fat)s or omega-6 fats also lead to low grade inflammation.
(Contrary to popular belief, our diet contains a dangerous excess of omega-6 fatty acids, especially in relation to omega-3s, and this has a pro-inflammatory effect on our bodies.)
Sugar causes glycation, which damages your skin and connective tissue, making them loose and inflamed
Moreover, sugar causes glycation, which is defined as a deterioration of protein in the body due to it being combined with sugars.
Glycation of collagen, the most important protein of the skin, ages and deteriorates the quality of the skin and the connective tissue underneath it.
Drinks after work impair liver function and detoxification
Drinks after work, either entertaining clients or socialising with colleagues, add to the calorie load of the day and undermine the detoxification function of the liver.
And obviously no-one has healthy food at the bar while drinking alcohol.
It’s obvious: computer work and sitting down give you cellulite
Cellulite is defined as Oedematous Fibrosclerotic Panniculitis, which basically means inflammation of the superficial fat tissue associated with water retention and connective tissue fibrosis.
As you can see, the consequences of sedentary, computer-based work on the thighs and buttocks fits exactly the description of cellulite.
It is very simple: unless you do something about it, working for 8, 10 or 12 hours, in the office or at home, in front of a computer with minimal finger movement and no other body movement, will lead to cellulite, excessive local fat deposits, skin laxity and overall skin ageing - sooner or later.
Mobile phones and social media give you cellulite
Today we spend more and more time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and other social media instead of meeting people in person.
This again means one thing: we move our fingers too much (leading to iPhone thumb) and we move our bum and thighs too little, leading to skin looseness, fat accumulation, puffiness and cellulite.
How to prevent cellulite, water retention and skin looseness
However, all is not lost. There are simple ways with which this body shape decay can be reversed or even stopped, without sacrificing your career, throwing away your iPhone or quitting Instagram (God forbid).
Here are 15 simple actions that aim to "undo" most of the negative effects our computer and mobile phone-based lifestyle inflicts on our bodies:
Fight glycation
Boost elastin and collagen production
Improve circulation
Reduce local fat accumulation
Minimise inflammation
15 lifestyle changes to prevent office wrok, computers, mobile phones and social media from ruining your body:
If possible, take small 1-2 minute breaks every hour to walk and thereby restore circulation on your legs. This will also improve your productivity in the next hour, by boosting circulation in your brain.
Try to have a 30' (or even 60') exercise session during your lunchtime. This will boost circulation, metabolism and collagen/elastin production, especially if the exercise includes 20' squat training on a whole body vibration machine, such as the powerplate.
If you are seriously chocoholic, this is the time to get your chocolate reward: for about 30' after the end of one hour of vigorous exercise you can have some chocolate or cake (not the whole cake) or similar food, without any of it reaching your bum. Your hormonal environment immediately after exercise ensures that this does not happen. Smart huh?
Always keep berries, low fat live yoghurt, nuts (be easy on nuts!) and other healthy snacks in the work fridge, to avoid the temptation of visiting the crisp/chocolate vending machine. Berries support your collagen tissue and contain very few calories. If you work from home, don’t keep cookies and crisps at home.
Avoid sugar in your coffee/tea or opt for green tea/herbal teas instead that do not require sugar
Avoid more than 2 caffeinated drinks a day but drink as much decaf coffee/tea/green tea as you like
A lunch consisting of salad and grilled fish/chicken/lean meat or one based on pulses will keep you productive throughout your working day, provide you with the protein, needed to maintain your elastin and collagen levels, and ensure that you do not take in more calories than you need.
Oily fish, such as salmon, sardines, mackerel and trout, will help fight fat accumulation, provide you with valuable anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids and boost circulation in your body.
Take 500-1000mg of the aminoacid carnosine every day to help fight glycation caused by the reaction of sugar and proteins in your body (consult your health care professional first)
Replace cola or other sugary fizzy drinks with sparkling water, which contains no sugar or excessive acids. The carbon dioxide contained in sparkling water is completely harmless - the problems with fizzy drinks is the acidity, the sugar and other chemicals, not the bubbles themselves.
Try to partially or fully walk to and from work: this will boost your metabolism, help you burn a few extra calories and provide you with some necessary mechanical stimulation to help maintain your collagen and elastin levels and consequently your firmness. If you work from home simply take a walk before or after work to simulate part of your work commute.
Try to exercise in the morning before work or in the evening after work to undo the effects of work inactivity. Even if you have energy for 20' of exercise, this is far better than landing on the sofa and letting your body down. Even 1-2 times a week is better than nothing.
If you are too tired to do much exercise during the week, try to have double exercise sessions on the weekend, when you have more energy
Use a concentrated cellulite cream. A good anti-cellulite cream will help boost circulation, lipolysis (fat release), skin repair and elastin/collagen production and fight inflammation, oxidative damage and glycation, all important causes of cellulite.
Have a strong cellulite treatment every week, fortnight or month. A good anti-cellulite treatment will help boost circulation and lymph drainage, stimulate collagen and elastin synthesis, release fat locally and initiate the early death (apoptosis) of fat cells locally, thereby acting on all causes of body shape decline.
The good news: technology can also be used to fight cellulite and body shape decline
We have mentioned above that technology causes cellulite. However, technology can also be used to reduce cellulite.
Advanced cellulite treatments and highly concentrated anti-cellulite creams can help prevent or reduce office work-induced cellulite and skin looseness:
High intensity, deep tissue radiofrequency (RF) is an ideal treatment for this purpose, as it stimulates fat release and fat cell apoptosis, results in huge circulation increase in the "cellulite tissues", stimulates collagen/elastin production, collagen cell proliferation and collagen tightening. Make sure you choose a high-power, deep-acting RF treatment as many RF treatments are simply not powerful or deep enough.
High intensity ultrasonic cavitation also helps with fat reduction. Make sure you choose a high-power ultrasound cavitation treatment, as many such treatments are simply not powerful enough.
Strong manual anti-cellulite massage can also help, but again make sure you do your research before you sign up, as most such massages are simply not strong or not skilful enough
Don’t waste your time with bipolar/tripolar RF, HIFU, RF microneedling, acoustic wave therapy and similar gimmicks, as they don’t work.
A good anti-cellulite cream, rich in high purity forskolin, caffeine, escin, esculin, asiatic acid, asiaticoside, madecassic acid, madecassoside, chlorogenic acid, hydroxyproline, cocoa flavanols, EGCG, curcumin and a few other actives, can help keep your collagen-rich tissues in good shape, fight glycation, maintain a good level of circulation and keep fat accumulation at bay. Today's technology means that a quality anti-cellulite cream can contain several natural active ingredients in high purity and high concentration for better results, faster.
However, for profit maximisation purposes, most such creams on the market simply do not contain high enough concentrations of active ingredients, so do your research before buying.
In summary
Deep-acting, high-power radio frequency/ultrasound treatments once a week (for the worst cases) or once a month (for most office workers) can help keep cellulite at bay and maintain body firmness,
especially if combined with daily application of an anti-cellulite cream…
…and the 15 lifestyle measures mentioned above
Not a miracle, but the only way
Barring quitting your job and becoming an exercise/diet freak, these 15 tips are the best thing that can be done to keep your body young, smooth, slim and firm, while working hard and maintaining a home.
It is not a miracle but it comprises all the major steps you can take, i.e. increase activity levels and improve your diet during the working day.
Add to this effort by having regular "anti-office" treatments and applying anti-cellulite creams to prevent or undo the damage caused by sitting down and staring at a screen all day.
It will not work if you do things such as drinking two bottles of wine on the weekend
And it will not work if you don't apply it
It is amazing how many people don’t do much exercise, do not properly follow a healthy diet, do not regularly apply their creams, are not regular with their treatments, or they give up too early and then go on to complain that that said exercise/diet/treatment/creams do not work.
So the simple advice is "be patient, be consistent and just do it".
If you get organised and put the effort, the protocol above will work and you will feel proud of your firmer, younger body and your increased energy levels and confidence.
And at the same time, you will also fight overweight, heart disease, diabetes and cancer, i.e. all the conditions known to be affected by poor diet, excess calorie intake and inactivity.
Check our professional consultancy in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening
Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening? Attend a half-day, 1-day or 2-day or 3-day professional consultancy / one-to-one masterclass and confidently offer your clients the safest, strongest and most effective treatment possible. Service available via Zoom or at our central London practice.
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