Humans were never meant to sit in one position; nothing in nature supports this. We are supposed to seek food, which requires a lot of activity, even if just gathering food rather than harvesting it or hunting for it. The trouble with modern life isn't just the office - it's the car ride (another hour or so), and TV (one or two hours for most people) and any online activities. Without substantial creative effort, most of us sit almost all the time, except for that 30 or 45 minute workout. Studies show that standing all day isn't better; you are still in one place and not moving around. The best remedy is get up from your desk and do some kind of activity for five minutes or so every hour. At least the blood gets flowing. Unfortunately most people who've sunk years and dollars into higher education do not have the option of finding a non-office job.
"the more exercise they undertook, the fewer hours they sat, on average."
Thanks Captain Obvious.
actually, that's not so obvious. Standing in one place (while working for example) doesn't count as exercise.
It would be interesting to know what effect just standing has; much has recently been made about "stand-up desks", and since most of us work in offices, is it really worth investing in such desks?
3
What about sitting on a bicycle or in a kayak? Is the problem inactivity or the act of sitting, even while exercising?
3
How can we explain the good health of monks who lead austere lives but do sit in meditation many hours a day? Eating less and not browsing/reading stressful things while sitting?
1
Monks may do sitting meditation for only a few hours a day. Otherwise they are quite active with activities such as cooking, cleaning, gardening and doing repairs and even building things.
3
What about reclining....with feet elevated?
2
One point I never found among articles denigrating too much sitting is this: is too much lying down equally bad for the heart? If so, should we cut our sleeping hours to five, like the fellow in the White House who is in excellent health?
6
The physically fit fellow in the White House? Do you mean one of the cleaners or housekeeping staff?
I was told to get up from sitting every 20 minutes or so and stand or walk for several minutes. Wrong, or no real help at all?
3
I am amused by all the cynical comments here. If you prefer to keep sitting do so, but here's my personal antidote: I feel MUCH BETTER walking than sitting. I don't need a scientific study to tell me that sitting sucks, it does. And there’s no doubt that more movement yields better health and wellness. I switched to a www.UnSit.com Treadmill Desk a year ago. Not only to I feel better, I’m mentally sharper, more productive and creative all day long. Don’t wait for the science to come in, get up and move, your mind and body will thank you.
7
To remain healthy, being active has always been part of the picture. Although this usually seems confined to the physical sphere, I would strongly urge, to benefit our 'ticker' (the heart, mind you), mental exercise as well. Learning is a never-ending endeavor, as it allows some humility when we realize how little we can grasp, compare with what's out there. And it saves our 'soul' by getting out of a deadly 'routine', a closed mind 'a la Trump', and the arrogance inherent in our ignorance, and it's prejudices.
2
I wish we could differentiate between types of sitting and the activity being done while sitting. For example - reclining watching TV (passive brain activity) is vastly different from sitting up straight studying to learn new information (high cognitive activity).
How still a person sits, how much exercise they get otherwise, how comfortable they might be while sitting, and long they sit at a time - also may have a health impact.
1
Use it or lose it. For those of us who can't walk safely, do what we can. Anything that keeps the pumper going above the resting rate should help.
5
This means writing a novel can be hazardous to the health. You pretty much have to sit down for the whole thing. I was warned about this in a class on the practical aspects of novel writing, the first two rules of which were:
1. Invest in a good chair.
2. Exercise every day to recover from sitting down so long.
Luckily I have a two story house, I prefer to write downstairs, and my printer is on the top floor. I use the "type, print, scribble, type" method of writing. So I have to run up and down the stairs every hour. Maybe this will save my heart from my creative life. I hope so.
9
I advise all trump supporters that they should never leave their lazy boys, they might miss something on Fox. You also may as well have another beer and bag of chips! Maybe our problem will take care of itself.
22
And have an extra large serving of chocolate cake.
14
Fascinating that y’all just can’t let it go when it comes to the President. But that’s ok. Maybe the increased street levels y’all p,ace on yourselves will lead to untimely appointments with the Grim Reaper. Until that happy day maybe you should get a reality check about Trump supporters. I don’t think most of us spend our days in Lazy Boys watching Fox News. But hold that thought, it makes it easier for us to keep tightening our grip on the political and judicial branches of Federal, State and local government.
And TWO scoops of ice cream!
10
Is sitting the same as reclining i.e. lying down for the studies mentioned ? Sitting and standing is all I ever see mentioned.
8
Sardines forced into a can probably wish they could swim too.
2
Yeah, I guess we're all going to die in the end...
2
10,000 steps everyday! Track your behavior with any of the devices available. Keep data over time to evaluate current and past behavior. Feedback is a motivator.
4
How many more studies do we need to demonstrate that exercise, eating well, getting enough sleep, not smoking, and drinking alcohol moderately are the keys to maintaining one's health? It is the responsibility of each individual to adopt healthy behaviors. Until their employers, insurance companies, and our government recognize that they to have an obligation to, and will also benefit from, providing incentives to support healthy behaviors in all of us, many individuals simply won't be able to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
4
I've been sitting for almost all of my life. My heart should be made of stone right about now.
2
The television series “Sit and Be Fit” says otherwise, as all habitual smokers of marijuana know.
Ed, the latest research on marijuana smokers says that they are more likely than non-users to emerge from the hospital alive after being admitted for heart problems. That goes along with findings that they tend to weigh less, have lower blood sugar, lower blood pressure and higher good cholesterol than non-users.
Plus, the stereotype of marijuana smokers being inactive and lazy is wrong. In Colorado when you go to a dispensary, you can see that the budtenders are the same thin fit people who ski in the winter and bike and hike all summer. Same with the people going in and out of the store.
Marijuana legalization has always found its strongest political support in mountain regions with ski resorts and highly active populations.
7
So, Patricia, you think this is a kind of health food? Or at least a health smoke? Really.
I plan to go right down and take a walk and be struck and killed by a car whose driver is distracted by texting...
6
Merry Christmas to all
3
Walking certainly helps reduce stress and anxiety much better than using chemical compounds for these disorders
1
You had better eat wisely and moderately before long periods of sitting because you will be burning very few calories.
1
But my long periods of sitting, laying in front of the screen actually, are actually periods of intermittent fasting, Which now I learned is good for you.
Since the robots will be be taking all our jobs soon I guess we’ll have more time to stand.
5
Well, with all those corporations given all those tax breaks including being able to deduct all costs for a long lived asset in the year bought, guess what they'll be buying.
Unless demand for their product takes an upward turn they won't want to increase production of what ever. So now's the time for them to invest in robots.
Maybe we could find robots to dance with.
1
I played tennis for over 40 yrs, had an active life style...I've had 7 heart attacks since 2005, and 10 stent placements...also type 2 since 2001...I stopped moving in my late 40's, gained a ton of weight playing video games with my kids and sitting behind the PC...MOVE people MOVE ! I need no study to know that's the key...and watch what you eat !
14
What about those adults who are disabled in a wheelchair? Is there a study supporting the same conclusion?
14
What about sedentary children with their tech devices that sit over 9 hours a day including at school. Are they at risk too?
10
Kids today are fatter than they were when I was a kid (40 years ago), so yes, they are at risk off heart attacks.
2
Dr. Joan Vernikos, former Director of Life Sciences for NASA, has written a lot about the problems caused by prolonged sitting. See http://www.joanvernikos.com/pages/publications.php
2
PLEASE read the new book STROKE and learn more.
It would be great if someone came up with an alternative to the office job of sitting in front of your computer all day long.
20
Standing in front of your computer all day long.
4
another simplistic column from the Gang of Four at the NYTimes who have helped create an obesity epidemic with 50 years of advice. Sitting with CROSSED LEGS is the real issue. SmartSeat will solve this issue that no one even mentions. No one includes those who pay for private trainers etc who also given their lack fo awareness sit that way too.
4
You are one funny lady...
1
Nice product placement. See how she did that!
2
Sitting is the new smoking.
8
So what happens if you're sitting and smoking ?
3
You are probably shortening your life span with each cigarette an incremental amount. Who knew?
1
Or sitting with crossed legs and smoking?!
The conclusion “focus on both less sitting and more exercise” makes sense - and so does finding a healthier, less sedentary sitting environment that allows movement between multiple postures of sitting, standing, half sitting and half standing…like this: https://stolzdezk.com/
4
I work at a call center where we have rows of sitting workstations for employees. Many of these folks are developing numerous health issues mostly due to unhealthy habits, but the sitting for 7-10 hours a day is certainly contributing. The value for inidviduals at home and companies to invest in sit/stand workstations will really help shift the paradigm of sitting for hours. I just checked out this link and love this workstation! Currently, at my office we have a standing workstation option (but only for specific employee situations) that doesn't offer this variability. In fact, I use VariDesk but it has no wrist rest, which is creating other issues. Do you know anything more about this product?
4
I was thinking it would be great for home use but this workstation sounds like it would make sense for your call center! The website indicates the product is not on the market yet and that a Kickstarter campaign will be launching soon. I would contact the developer to let them know you have some interest in their product.
1
There are other brands out there. See if you get a doctor’s note if your employer will pay for one.
Since so much of our seated time involves computer use, why no mention of setting up to stand while on the computer?
1
Run too much, you injure your knees. Lift too much, you injure your back. Sit too much, you injure your heart. Eat too much, you injure stuff. Eat too little, you injure stuff. Blah blah blah blah. You have to die of something. Death by sitting is better than burning or drowning.
43
No, run incorrectly and injure your knees, lift incorrectly and injure your back....
Don't blame the exercise.
In our society, too many don't want to accept responsibility for their behavior.
14
Dear TW in Oregon, Thank you for a peak into your world view and personal belief system. I am a senior who has done many of the things you refer to in your email, but without injury or negative consequences any of which I think will hasten my demise. I have always tried to remember my limits, the changes in my body as I aged, and have never tried to power force my body to do things that would cause me much grief. If you exercise and move smartly you don't have to end up a wreck or under the surgeons knife. Do your pre training research, seek out good people with a good 'track' record of successful training methods and most of all get acquainted with your own body, its strengths and weaknesses and set realistic goals. Good luck and feel better.
20
Ms. Reynolds: please write a Phys-Ed column on how breathing air in and out of the lungs wears the heart out.
13
This post alert made me stop what I was doing a take a seat ... aw, dang it.
13
ditto
2
Recent research and analyses claim the sitting studies are highly flawed and simplistic, that among other things 1) types of sitting count and 2) that SES and habits typically related to arei big confounders in the sitting-disease relationship (think executives vs. poor or working class individuals). That Gretchen Reynolds and the NYT hasn’t reported this work is typical of their journalistic quality.
6
What about sleeping or lying down?
20
If I am working I never sit ,and my legs rarely feel tired.
2
I can stand for that.
6
Q: "Mr. Winston Churchill, sir, to what do you attribute your success in life?"
A: "Economy of effort. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down."
No pain, no pain!
31
Not to mention Winston’s affinity for cigars and alcohol.
3
So mailmen at the USPS should live forever but they don't. Why?
11
Actually that would be the basis of a good study. Similar to the famous one about the London bus drivers who sat most of their shift and the ticket taking conductors who were on their feet and moving, up and down the stairs of the double decker bus.
Many mail carriers spend their day driving the delivery truck while others are on their feet with a walking route. Both are most likely drawn from the same pool and they have to pass a physical to be employed and there is a ton of information on their conditions.
3
Because management shortens our life through high blood pressure from their idiocy and sadism.
13
So if you sit to meditate how does that affect your heart?
8
People don't usually meditate for 10 hours every day. Are you asking if meditating for 15-30 minutes a day reduces the troponin levels?
1
Meditation increases heart rate variability which is a good thing. It means that your heart is less stressed is a simple way to look at this.
Get a dog, rain or shine you get your exercise.
10
Like just about everything else that has to do with health, genetics are likely a key factor. My father was a computer scientist, he basically sat his entire career, never worked out, retired in his 70s and is still going strong today.
I work in computers as well, sit for at least 10 hours a day, after working out in the morning for two hours. Both my father and I have bad cholesterol, both of our arteries are completely clear, and I had a cardio stress test two years ago that amaze the cardiologist, who said whatever it is I am doing, keep it up.
I sure with scientific studies would begin to start factoring genetics into all of their studies; that would be more helpful than a lot of the research published today based solely on external mitigating factors.
13
Stephan Hawking has been confined to a wheelchair with increasing immobility at any level for some forty years. He is 75 years old and possess a razor-sharp mind, much sharper, one would safely assume, than the researchers of this study.
Author and Vietnam vet Ron Kovic has been in a wheelchair for some fifty years and is 71. Itzak Perlman has had restricted mobility since the age of four and is 72.
These are only a few of the many public figures who are either wheelchair-bound or have severely restricted mobility but have reached an advanced age. On a personal level, many of us know people with similar restrictions who have long outlived the highly mobile. Shouldn't this consideration be part of the study?
13
A willful, purposeful, objectively occupied, and unselfconscious state of mind helps somehow - the will to live, to act, to be. Well cited examples of the human spirit making the most of the mind-body unity. I go the other way and try to make the most of my lesser brain with the recomended physicality.
Alfred di Genis:
Anecdotal evidence is not scientific evidence.
2
True, even if the anecdotes are scientists!
There is a BIG difference in risk between all-time sitting and workplace sitting. While all-time sitting (including TV time) is associated with cardiovascular disease, the 5 largest, well-controlled studies of workplace sitting time (N=7000 to 154,000) find NO relationship between occupational sitting time and cardiovascular disease. Why? High all-time sitters are less active, include more sick people, and include more elderly. It is very difficult to adjust for these factors and the authors of this Letter to Circulation acknowledge the problem of reverse causation. Bottom line: in the workplace it is better for your heart and legs to sit than stand.
7
Hmm......if this were true then monks and those who meditate for long hours may die of cardiac failure? I think the cause is not just the sitting part but the activity one is engaged in while sitting. Chances are desk work involves decision making, analysis, or mental activity that causes stress and this stress accumulates when sitting. Just a guess..........
3
Standing at your desk is good for your back. It will also strengthen your hips. I have doubts about other claims.
1
I'm not convinced of that. It's still "sedentary, except you're standing. The idea is to break up sedentarism with movement. Getting up from a sitting desk, by definition, is movement. So is walking around every 20-30 minutes for a few minutes at a time.
Most importantly, read these caveats:
"Of course, this was an observational study and can show only that sitting is linked to high troponin, not that it causes troponins to rise.
It also cannot explain how physical stillness might injure cardiac cells.
But the impacts are probably indirect, says Dr. James de Lemos"
What that means is that this may just be yet another study band-wagoning on the "sitting must be bad for you" meme in the public health world.
The effects found were very small and were found for bio-markers, noit any real physical problem or manifestation. This may all simply be a result of the prevailing bias in the field.
5
Is this like that town in Minnesota where everybody is above average?
If troponin levels are 'average' or only 'slightly' below for some and high for others, why isn't 'average' higher? Something is missing in this article or in the research.
"... was associated with RELATIVELY NORMAL LEVELS of troponin. The people who moved the most tended to have lower amounts of troponin in their blood, although the BENEFITS statistically WERE SLIGHT. ...the people who sat for 10 hours or more tended to have above-average troponin levels ... ."
5
Even if you can't exercise, there's always N.E.A.T. -- non-exercise thermogenesis activity. That's stuff like yard work or housework or climbing stairs or walking to your car in a parking lot or walking while having a chat with a colleague at work or walking around your kitchen while cooking. it all adds up. Get a pedometer or use one on your smartphone. shoot for 10,000 steps a day. Also, set a timer on your smartphone and get up and walk around wherever you are for a few minutes every hour. This isn't 'rocket science' but it IS science. Google N.E.A.T.
46
Ah, a know-it-all. I am always amazed at the number of respondents who go off at a tangent, and post about their hobby horse, rather than about the subject matter in hand. To stay in your mood - no, you can't do yard work while you're sitting down. And a pedometer won't show anything while you're sitting down. You'll never be a real scientist if you can't sit between the lines. Neat, eh?
To Menno Aartsen:
Well this is a rather rude response to a commenter just innocently trying to share some helpful suggestions. And her comment is completely appropriate to the subject matter at hand. Very nasty.
30
10,000 steps a day for me is nearly 5 1/2 miles. Walking at a brisk 3.8 MPH, this is nearly 1 1-2 hours of walking! Great for people who have few time constrants and perfect health, good shoes, knees and feet. In other words, it's a pipe dream and I resent anyone who foists such nonsense on aging adults.
1
“Sitting quietly for extended periods of time could be hurting your heart, according to a surprising new study”. Could? Ab posse ad esse non licet illatio (Kant). Unfortunately, past 20 years, the Authors, Reviewers, Editors of Circulation still ignore CAD Inherited Real Risk, I have illustrated in 32 papers, some of them Medline. We are not born alle qual. In some family, AMI is really frequent, while in others aren’t.
“Sedentary behavior is associated with obesity, insulin resistance and fat deposition in the heart, all of which can lead to injury to heart cells,” he says (Dr. James de Lemos, a cardiologist and professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center who oversaw the new study. My note!)”.
Distressingly, there are jet Physicians that ignore Diabetic Constitution-Dependet Inherited Real Risk of T2DM, I’ve discovered in 2,000 and illustrated in articles published on peer-reviews (NEJM, Frontiers, Cambridge Research Centre, Athero of IAS, a.s.o.). In addition, not all individuals, under identical environmental health and dietary bad conditions, are obese!
“But for now and especially as we plan New Year’s resolutions, “we should consider that reducing sedentary behavior is an important part of a healthy lifestyle,” Dr. de Lemos s “.
6
I'm a person who does 'suicides' or shuttle runs
for fitness with great vigor. I am, ashamedly, also a person who sits, on occassion. What is the likelihood that this research is false or mislead? That former Enron trader has been doing some interesting sponsorship exposing false science. Also, only pathetic weasels use information like this to beat people over the head with and aggrandize themselves.
1
Keep in mind none of the scientists have been able to find an actual reason for why sitting damages your heart. My suspicion is that those who tend to sit more than 10 hours a day are also more likely to either be sick or lead a more sedentary lifestyle (ie not exercising and eating junk foods).
I personally try to apply a common sense filter to all scientific studies - we tend to think that scientists are supposed to all be geniuses but the truth is that many are shockingly bad at critical analyses and/or common sense and are often swayed by their own agendas/bias.
3
Absolutely. And against public interest and enlightenment, many (probably most) journalists lack the ability and willingness to ferret out the real science that "STUDIES" of any sort actually verify and support (without the if's, and's, or but's that so often render the science more akin to speculative and faddish guesses.
great. now we're starting to get somewhere. sitting in front of the boob tube, doinking on faceplant, exercising your fingers while imagining youre something you'll never be (physically fit and moving) andstaring at that boring spreadsheet for hours is killing you. literally.
why they didnt also attempt to corolate with hsCRP, a basic inflamation marker which must I'm pretty sure must also be present and which everyone should know their base levels, baffles me. I say you go a litle further and ask why. but a good start.....
5
Of course if you are easily winded and if you have a sense of congestion in the chest and even occasional pain in response to moving about, you will certainly avoid moving by sitting a lot.
9
In the early 1970s when I was in first grade my gym teacher told me exercise was healthy. He said are bodies were meant to move and so we should. He was really on to something. I was lucky to have met him and be told this valuable knowledge when I was so young.
6
There are plenty of populations that can be utilized in terms of studying sedentary lifestyles for example; patients in long term recovery from surgery, post trauma, or any debilitating paralysis. What would those populations show? Does diet have a greater implication on cardiac health? I get the premise that doing any physical activity part of the day is better than not. However, I would expect a greater frequency in cardiac complications if this study is sound. Perhaps there is a reversal in the cardiac damage since it is habitual versus one big event.
4
The issue isn't the surge in troponins per se, which is a Consequence of our prolonged sitting, the problem is our loss of the body's ability to not "realise" that it could use a little change in its sitting position even after couple of hours of maintaining such sedentary position with little movement. It's this built-in capacity that we are born with but it extinguishes as we grow up in an environment where movement is considered entirely a planned activity for the sole health benefit.
4
'Sitting is the new smoking"--it stops metabolic activity, hurts the lumbar discs and usually dulls the mind. The brain & heart need challenge, exercise, like an Alfa Romeo needs to be run.
The passivity of sedentary life includes screen time, snacking, mental junk food.
The techies seek a cure for aging & mortality- they imagine A.I. can eventually become a Mind and grant us eternal life (Kurzweil)- but they have a blind spot.
To be fully human is to have enriching experience. Surfing FaceBook ain't good enough--especially while sitting.
17
What's with this advice? Aren't we encouraging our youth to sit(by using computers at and after school)? Sitting around texting instead of get up and about and meeting people face-to-face? Giving supposedly ADD kids and adults drugs to calm them down, or more accurately- controlling them, make them more docile, thereby having them sit more? Gotta hand it to Bill Gates and other techno wizards, their propoganda for everone throughout the world is - sit and use our products, don't get up and out and meet people, don't exercise. Use the X-box , or Playstation and waste time sitting around playing useless video games. The exercise mantra was around when i was in high school. We didn't need to be told to get up and be active, we did it ourselves on our own initiative either playing neighborhood football, baseball, softball, basketball or just throwing around a ball or a frisbee Only the anti-social kids stayed at home most of the time and watched tv then later, those ancient video games. The Times might do real good for all if they confront these tech mongols about how they've destroyed the human spirit of up close and personal interaction and socializing, not to mention good old fashioned neighborhood sports play.
26
You make some excellent points. Also...I've been thinking more and more about the effects of sunlight as well, on our health. I believe it's pretty irrefutable that...the sun not only provides Vitamin D (which helps us properly and sufficiently absorb calcium, thereby making for healthy bones and teeth) but the sun also helps increase our serotonin levels ('happiness' hormones). This in turn got me to thinking that I really should try and gradually shift my waking/bedtime schedule, to try and be a bit more of a 'morning person', vs a 'night owl'. Particularly in the winter months when we have fewer hours of daylight, it would behoove us all to not be awake for so many hours at night, and with no natural light coming into our homes.
This in turn made me consider that our ancestors pretty much lived according to the sun. They awoke with the sun, and more or less went to bed with the moon. And if you think about it, this simply seems much more natural and likely would help us night owls, in improving serotonin levels, esp in the Winter. Also consider that our ancestors walked much more, were tending to their gardens, farms, animals, were fetching water, firewood, hand-washing their clothing and hanging it to dry, cooking meals, etc.
For all of our 'advancements', it seems to me that there is something to be said for living our lives (where we can, and within reason) in a way more in line with the natural world (i.e., Amish lifestyle).
5
“Subclinical cardiac injury” means there is no determinable evidence of cardiac injury. No symptoms. No etiology. No causality, of course - really just a guess based on one of hundreds of factors present during a heart attack (where it is measured at massively increased levels). This bad science just boosts the egos of people like Mike in Virginia. Why not wait for those follow up studies that actually study "whether sitting less, exercising more, or both affect troponin levels and the risk for subsequent heart failure." There is no news here.
17
From the Master Jack Lalanne: If you don't use it, you lose it.
29
And, if you USE it, you lose it. Except that losing it in that sense is the wear and tear on their joints that people who have exercised all their lives experience. I guess I would rather have arthritis than a heart attack.
Even if someone lives "in a bad neighborhood" or cannot "afford to join a gym" or "has to work," how does that make it impossible to get up every hour or so, walk around, do some calisthenics, climb a set of stairs several times, etc.?? Let's stop making excuses for those who just refuse to take exercise and diet measures that would benefit them, mostly out of pure laziness. And the rest of us get stuck with the enormous medical bills or irresponsible behaviors.
36
Those working as a service rep or as a driver don't have the luxury of being able to get up every hour from their chair. Even some white collar professionals (IT) are subjected to overzealous management that frowns on breaks and applauds "heads down" employees. Some are even monitored based on keystrokes and mouse movements, to ensure they remain at their desks.
39
Don't you get it? Most Americans aren't interested in good health, despite the abundance of good information about the value of exercise.
10
Mike, I like the way that you think. Hidden in your pedantry for the greater good is a self-aggrandizing, self-righteous concern for illusory damage to your purse. When the Hunger Games begin, I hope you will participate.
31
Digital age is upon us. AI and robots will further our introduction to staring at a computer screen all day.
4
If sitting for a long time is harmful, how can eight hours sleep be beneficial?
80
This is like saying there's no global warming because it's snowing. Apples and oranges. Willful blindness.
13
That's a legitimate question. There's a lot of fake science over the years that bandwagoneers love to get behind.
3
And what about stretching out on the couch?
1
Just start moving, walking, swimming, biking, elliptical, at least 30 min a day, five times a week. And of course, make sure to get up for a walk every hour or so. These 2 simple habits can change your life.
If you are overweight or obese, give yourself 6 months to a year, and before you know it, you can transform your body.
53
Some people cannot. Either because of how many hours they have to work or take care of their families or because they have disabilities or live in a bad neighborhood or can't afford to join a gym, etc. I love it when they do health articles and then the Obvious Olives show up to give advice like this or crackpot advice.
63
Even if someone lives "in a bad neighborhood" or cannot "afford to join a gym" or "has to work," how does that make it impossible to get up every hour or so, walk around, do some calisthenics, climb a set of stairs several times, etc.?? Eve is just making excuses for those who just refuse to take exercise and diet measures that would benefit them, mostly out of pure laziness. And the rest of us get stuck with the enormous medical bills or irresponsible behaviors.
12
Dear "Mike," Your last sentences (now posted twice on this page) sounds like an all-purpose meme that might be casually slung about on a wide variety of topics ("...those who just refuse to take exercise and diet measures that would benefit them, mostly out of pure laziness. And the rest of us get stuck with the enormous medical bills or irresponsible behaviors").
Call me irresponsible, but for years I held a professional job that tethered me to my desk, seeing client after client, 10 or 11 hours a day. No lunch break, brief bathroom breaks, zero time to disport myself on the stairs or performing calesthenics unless I wanted to lengthen my work day...
On top of that came a 30-minute commute (driving) followed by sitting down to a healthful dinner, then shower, sleep, get up, breakfast, repeat.
Another meme I often see these days is that people like me should stop playing the victim card and and just reach out and grab one of
those "better jobs" that dangle from every branch and twig. Impossible in my case, and for many others. Thank God I'm now retired.
The culmination of such memes tends to be that anyone who develops one or another specific illness should not expect the Overburdened Taxpayer to toss his/her Hard-Earned Dollars into the pot for said Undeserving Lazy/Irresponsible Person's medical care.
I occasionally wonder about the perfect lives blame-tossers lead.
135
In the 1950s epidemiologists discovered that heart disease was more common among bus drivers than bus conductors. Refer BMJ 08/03/2014 (UK date format) Article by Mohammed Ahmed Rashid
39
Interesting, but does that mean that sitting is bad, or that standing and walking around is good?
7
bus driving may be more stressful than clipping tickets - association is not causation, etc.
9
What is healthy is the actual movement. Getting up from a desk, walking around, do a few squats or lunges, lift some dumbbells if you can keep them around. It's the movement that is healthy. Standing at a desk likely won't mitigate that because you're not moving, you're still standing there static. I get up every 20-30 minutes. There are also apps that can "remind" you to stand up and move around. It doesn't take much but once you get up from your desk - move. Go climb a few flights of stairs, walk to the mailbox, squat a little bit, whatever. Happy holidays!
2
This is why I stand at the bar and suck down beers.
152
Laugh all the way to the hospital.
5
"Move every hour" is a nice goal .. if you're not trying to be Steve Jobs (RIP), Steve Wozniak, Beethoven, Picasso, et al., IMHO.
7
Did these measurements distinguish between Troponins from heart and skeletal muscles? I have noticed that if I am very involved with what I am doing on the computer and not sitting correctly I have a more difficult time walking even after sitting for a relatively short time. I think there may be a reinforcing effect where damage to lower body muscles may be reducing the amount of time people spend walking (and exercising in general) which reduces the amount of exercise the heart gets on a regular basis which could increase the chance of a heart attack when one does suddenly exert oneself for some reason.
12
The current cardiac troponin blood tests are highly specific for the cardiac isoform of troponin, and do not cross-react with skeletal muscle
1
Question - is it sitting or stillness that is the problem? In other words, does working at a standing desk (rather than sitting) lead to similar problems?
48
I'm not a physiologist, but I strongly suspect that working at a standing desk beats sitting. By how much? Dunno. Enough to make standing worthwhile.
Standing demands that one support one's own body mass, as opposed to a chair doing the supporting. Standing will pay dividends in beneficial stress on the heart and the large leg muscles, and in maintaining bone density.
24
Standing up results in a lot of movement, especially after an hour when you start looking for excuses to sit down for a while.
26
I`ve got a standing desk for 2 years already and work at home. Yes, it is very good for healthy neck and back, if you work on computer most of time. In that case you need it anyway. For example look for this variant on https://www.primecables.com/p-355830-cab-et101-wh-primecables-electric-s... there are detailed review with videos. Also you can find some more cheaper variants on this website.