Sitting is the new smoking

[La]

Interesting article in today's Globe:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/hea ... le4613704/

The sobering part is that, as runners, we seem to think that we already meeting our minimum requirement for daily activity, but other research has shown (you'll have to go to the Sweat Science blog to read about it as I don't have the reference handy) that even if you exercise 1-2 hours a day, those other 22-23 hours spent sitting (or sleeping) are still doing you a lot of harm.

[deerdree]

I've seen a few articles like this and the evidence is convincing, in my opinion. That's part of the reason I set up a treadmill desk! (The other reason is that I get lower back pain from sitting too long, so I was definitely feeling acute effects of sitting too much).

[shannybear13]

Neat and interesting article. I feel even more fortunate to work in a job where I am not confined to sitting all day....

[Dr. S]

I hate my desk job! I wish I was back in the lab or in the field more often....

By chance ( ) I have a very active bladder and can't spend more than 45 mins without going to the washroom.

[eme]

I get up and wander frequently (I get sick of sitting/staring at the computer screen). Not sure if I do it every half hour, I will have to set up a reminder for it

[turd ferguson]

I group this together with "being male" and "family history" as things that greatly affect me but that I can't do much about and that therefore I'm not going to worry too much about. I'm a 43 year old male cube monkey, there's little I can do about that. You know, change the things I can and be serene about the rest.

[Jwolf]

I group this together with "being male" and "family history" as things that greatly affect me but that I can't do much about and that therefore I'm not going to worry too much about. I'm a 43 year old male cube monkey, there's little I can do about that. You know, change the things I can and be serene about the rest.

But even getting up and walking around a couple times an hour seems to be enough to offset the effects of the cubicle. Surely that doesn't seem like much.

I know I personally cannot sit still for that long and have to get up and walk around every so often to stay productive.

[turd ferguson]

I group this together with "being male" and "family history" as things that greatly affect me but that I can't do much about and that therefore I'm not going to worry too much about. I'm a 43 year old male cube monkey, there's little I can do about that. You know, change the things I can and be serene about the rest.

But even getting up and walking around a couple times an hour seems to be enough to offset the effects of the cubicle. Surely that doesn't seem like much.

I know I personally cannot sit still for that long and have to get up and walk around every so often to stay productive.

I don't object to the idea of exercising more, I object to the tone. You know what else causes ill health? Stress. Am I worse off by sitting all day or by worrying about sitting all day? Like I said, change the things I can and be serene about the rest.

[Doonst]

If sitting don't kill me I'll live 'till I die!

[Dstew]

I group this together with "being male" and "family history" as things that greatly affect me but that I can't do much about and that therefore I'm not going to worry too much about. I'm a 43 year old male cube monkey, there's little I can do about that. You know, change the things I can and be serene about the rest.

But even getting up and walking around a couple times an hour seems to be enough to offset the effects of the cubicle. Surely that doesn't seem like much.

I know I personally cannot sit still for that long and have to get up and walk around every so often to stay productive.

I don't object to the idea of exercising more, I object to the tone. You know what else causes ill health? Stress. Am I worse off by sitting all day or by worrying about sitting all day? Like I said, change the things I can and be serene about the rest.

For over a year my work day was get up a 5:00 - 5:15 am. Shower, bowl of cereal and drive to work. Start between 5:45 and 6:00 am. Try to deal with all the emergency stuff and the new stuff that required my immediate attention. If it was a good day, around 10:00 - 10:30 I would go for coffee. Sometime during the day there was likely a meeting and some of those were a couple of hours. Work through lunch with the odd exception. If I took a break, it was to go buy some sort of sugar product to get me through the end of the day that was usually around 5:30 - 6:00. If there was a big meeting I had to go to, then add in several hours at a desk at night. If someone got up and walked around, you could hear the mummers of must be nice not to be completely swamped like the rest of us. Got up to 210 pounds doing that. I knew that I should have taken breaks and eaten better and exercised but ... sometimes it is very easy to say that but very hard to do.

I got lucky and moved into a position where I am almost expected to take breaks as they are looking for quality and not quantity but talking to my old coworkers, quantity is still the over riding goal.

[Dstew]

If sitting don't kill me I'll live 'till I die!

I would change that to "If life don't kill me I'll live 'till I die?"

Or a more cynical is "If [fill in the blank of whatever new study shows that will kill us whether that be eggs or lead filled fish or ...] don't kill me I'll live 'till i die?"

[ultraslacker]

I probably sit more when I'm NOT working than when I am. :/ sometimes I get stuck on the couch with my laptop on my lap. I've been working on that lately though!

[Jogger Barbie]

With these recent reports, I am more appreciative of the fact that our work kitchen is at the opposite end of our office from where I sit, and that I like to drink water. Aside from that, even on my busiest days there are multiple opportunities and reasons to get up and move around at least once an hour. And I create them, where possible, just to get a break from the computer screen and from sitting.

[HCcD]

Oh, the irony ... would this suggest that the smokers in my office, who get up and walk to the elevator walk outside the in the smoking area for 5-15 minutes every hour, is actually getting more physical activity than the non-smokers who sit in their cubicle all day ..

[La]

Oh, the irony ... would this suggest that the smokers in my office, who get up and walk to the elevator walk outside the in the smoking area for 5-15 minutes every hour, is actually getting more physical activity than the non-smokers who sit in their cubicle all day ..

Yup! And they're usually standing while smoking, too!

Even just standing for a while is better for you than sitting all day.

[HCcD]

Oh, the irony ... would this suggest that the smokers in my office, who get up and walk to the elevator walk outside the in the smoking area for 5-15 minutes every hour, is actually getting more physical activity than the non-smokers who sit in their cubicle all day ..

Yup! And they're usually standing while smoking, too!

Even just standing for a while is better for you than sitting all day.

So, who's gonna get more active and start smoking now, I wonder ??