Danger zone: Why you should get rid of your couch today

If you were to look around your house for dangerous things that might harm you, you probably wouldn't put your couch on that list - and yet it is one of the most harmful things in your home.

The phrase "sitting is the new smoking" has been thrown around for a while and it is only become increasingly more important as our sedentary lifestyles begin to cause direct harm to our health.

Experts believe that sitting on the couch can lead to so many health issues it can, in the end, lead to your death.

Katy Bowman, biomechanist and author of Move Your DNA, argues that couches and chairs restrict movement and, although we've been conditioned to think they're the only way to rest our body, that is far from the truth.

"But rather, you can take a seat while still moving the parts of you that hardly ever get moved," she says.

Bowman advises people to ditch the couch and, instead, sit on the floor, using a variety of positions that include things like squats, lunges and hit stretches.

This means you will both relax and rest your body while also making sure it moves the way it needs to move.

The body movement expert guarantees that, unlike what you might think, sitting on the floor and moving your body into these different positions will not make you more tired.

"Sit on a couple of pillows or blankets to experience the work it takes to support your own body [to] get up and down," she added.

Scientists have been arguing against sitting on the couch for prolonged periods for a long time.

A wide range of physical problems, from back and hip pain to digestive issues and even heart conditions can be blamed on sitting too much.

Physiotherapist Richard Evans told the Daily Mail back in 2016: "We now frequently see patients suffering from back pain who admit that long periods of sitting at home on sofas in poor postural positions has both caused their pain or injury, and slows down their recovery.

"And this number has definitely been on the rise since the fashion for squishier sofas started."

Modern life, with its office jobs and endless hours of TV programming, means people are sitting too much and this can actually kill them.

Next time you sit on your couch (if this article wasn't enough to put you off doing so), pay close attention to your posture and how you position your body.

After that, consider chucking the couch on TradeMe.