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Sitting Down Too Long Is Bad Even If You Exercise
Ant tips the week-old news that sitting down too much is not good for you, even if you are otherwise fit. A blog at the LA Times reports a followup from Swedish exercise experts: they propose "establishing a new way of thinking about sedentary behavior. They suggest abolishing 'sedentary behavior' as a synonym for not exercising. Instead, sedentary time should be defined as 'muscular inactivity' to distinguish it from not doing any exercise at all." These experts warn that the excessively sedentary are running serious health risks, irrespective of how much exercise they get when they're not plonked behind a desk or lying on a sofa.
I can't remember things when I'm standing. I think its because I keep all my thoughts in my lap and when I stand up, they fall on the floor and roll under the desk.
I honestly can't help but wonder if this will eventually be used as an excuse to hike insurance/worker's comp rates for desk jockeys...
the article point out that current definitions are inadequate ... so they try to come up with new ones. a language is not static, but dynamic, otherwise we would still speak assyrian or something similar ...
Yes, I'm left. You have a problem with that?
They can run any study they want, people get badly injured doing sports, not sitting on a sofa.
I have a portable keyboard (Typing of the Dead style) and I type all my emails while running marathons.
Just fyi.
o hai
a language is not static, but dynamic,
And the most dynamic of them all: bullshit.
The problem is not that they have a new word, it's that they have a new word for no reason and nobody knows what it means exactly.
"5 minutes of break during sedentary work" is a good idea, but how often do we need 5 min breaks before the ill effects fo being "too sedentary" kick in?
stuff |
...with my stepper under the desk. Problem solved.
EVERY hour spent sitting idle in front of the television raises the risk of premature death from heart disease by 18%, an
Australian study found.
*facepalm*
TFA actually does not make conclusions anything like what is written in OP. The differences may seem slight at first glance, but they are actually very major.
It IS news since the genereal (and imo true) belief is that you can make up for hours behind your desk by exercising when you're not. From the article: "Avoid sitting for prolonged periods and keep in mind to move more, more often." I think Ill increase my smoke break frequency from now on.
Sitting down on the sofa is different then sitting by a computer. Even the activities are different. I would like to see the study geered towards office workers who sit all day.
... raging at people, I swear I've got enough typing finger strength to tap so hard on a fretboard as to leave my fingerprints in the wood!
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
TFA is obviously mistaken on at least one point. They say that every hour spent watching TV increases your risk of premature death by heart attack by 18%... which means that if you spend 8 hours watching TV, you will likely have died 1.44 times. I know that they meant "daily" but even so. The numbers do not add up.
Ehm, what is the conclusion of this? Abolish sitting altogether? What about office work? Sitting for 8 hours is pretty common, you know..
This sig does not contain any SCO code.
Secondly, if you are sitting for hours at a desk each day, you are not fit.
Why not? I have a desk job, and I sit here for ~7 hours a day, but a few months back (for a completely unrelated issue) I wasted four hours in a hospital waiting for tests and results, before the doctor said "I'm worried about your heart rate, it's unusually low, but we can't find anything wrong with you. Do you do much exercise?" "Yes, I cycle fast for half an hour every morning and evening." "Oh. You've got nothing to worry about then, feel free to leave."
Current advice suggests what I do (cycle to work, sit a lot, cycle home) is sufficient exercise. If the sitting a lot is itself harmful then I'd like to know.
The study says "Climbing stairs rather than using elevators and escalators, 5 minutes of break during sedentary work, or walking to the store rather than taking the car will be as important as exercise.", which is good to know -- I don't own a car and take the stairs whenever practical anyway, so maybe I should take more breaks at work.
I work as a software consultant and alot of my work is sitting.
Every 2-3 days, however, I swim about 2 km or 1.2 miles to clear my mind, overthink business and personal goals or issues.
I'd like to think I'm somewhat fit, even though I sit for most of the day.
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
I go and take a smoke every 1-2h, and walk up and down 3 stories of stairs every time. Am i in risk ?
I KNEW there were good sides of smoking !!
The blog misquotes the LA Times article (which originally misquoted the study), and the summary parrots the blog.
May be a bit of junk science, too, but it's hard to tell since I can't find the original study.
If the quotes in the corrected LA Times article are accurate, then the researchers are simply full of it. They describe an 46% increased risk of death by all causes, which is patent nonsense. Everyone's risk (unless there's a secret medical facility I can't access) of death from all causes is 100%.
I'm not saying that there definitely is not a correlation, perhaps even a causal relationship, between sitting for too long in front of the tube and some decrease in life expectancy. However, there may be a step function here where at four hours of sitting the body makes metabolic changes that don't happen at 3.5 (or 2.9, or some such).
What about sitting at the symphony, ballet, office, or while reading books (or journals)? Why specifically call out the "telly time"? Even then, is there any difference between consistently watching sports (football vs cricket?), drama, comedy (laughter is good for you, remember), game shows, and soaps? Maybe too much passive watching (of any or all TV programming) simply rots some part of your brain and that signals your body to quit wasting time and space.
What about meal and "euphemism" breaks? How is that figured into the study?
If there's anything to be believed here, I wonder if RLS makes any difference.
http://www.tenjou.net/
Getting heart disease is risk, obviously, but it's a relatively small one unless you're very unhealthy or you have a history of it in your family. If you increase said risk by 18% per hour you're not actually much more likely to die. For example, if you're facing a 1% chance of heart disease then an hour of telly every day changes that to a 1.18% risk. That's probably within any margin of error anyway.
18% is the "scary tabloid statistic". The reality is that it's not really a big deal.
http://twitter.com/onion2k
Here is the papirus: http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.894824v1
I'm not too convinced here. Besides the obvious Duh! factor in TFP, I feel there's much more to the story and until lots and lots of follow-up studies are done I'm not convinced. Hell, these dudes are saying that you can be lean and mean (totally fit) and still have a much higher chance of death if you rest watching the F'n TV. And the numbers are STAGGERING.
I think it was Carl Sagan that used to say "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"; correct me if I'm wrong; but one study in a journal with an obvious bias just isn't enough to scare me. Now if you'll excuse me I'll watch that rerun of last tango in paris.
"Sedantary behaviour", originally a medical term, has found its way into normal British English. Looking at Google Trends it's in everyone else's English too.
I notice they give the average television watching time for the British versus "as much as" time for Americans. Biased much?
Can I mod something +1 Scary if it's true but I wish it weren't?
What's that? The bastard offspring of sports "scientists" and holistic medicine "professionals"?
The published and presumably peer reviewed raw data? Yes, OK, let's discuss that. Advice from people who couldn't get jobs teaching high school gym, and instead have to write about what they would teach, if they could teach? Not so much.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
I think Ill increase my smoke break frequency from now on.
And the cigarettes will surely undo any minor benefits gained from walking outside.
The problem is if you stand up, it's harder to type anything in reply to a Slashdot posting.
Take Nobody's Word For It.
Well really, how often do people sit for four hours without getting up at all? I'd be willing to bet a dollar that most people get up every hour anyway.
Can I mod something +1 Scary if it's true but I wish it weren't?
... what about the disabled in wheelchairs or those that are completely bedridden? Seriously we've had these people around for years and many of them seem just fine. I am a bit skeptical IMHO, I'd like to see a study done on people that are disabled and compare them against those that are not.
Which new word do they have? Both sedentary, and behaviour have been words for a long time. Not only that, but they've had meanings that when you associate with each other mean "generally being lazy" or "not moving much". I don't get what you're complaining about at all.
At the moment, a lot of people are nothing more than doing glorified data entry, and making the occasional judgement call. You really enjoy this when you go to your bank, or dentist, or whatever. You go and sit at their desk, they ask your name and start to enter your visit into the PC, while you wait. Then you state your business, which they again enter while you wait some more. Then they'll give a solution, or send you to someone else, or something, and ask you to wait while they again enter it into the PC.
This whole business could be done by computer, just listening in to the conversation and keeping a record of what's going on. But the technology isn't there, yet.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
Make it a point to get up from your desk multiple times during your workday, even if it's only to walk back and fourth across the room a few times.
I keep my smoking co-workers company outside every now and then, just for the get-up-and-get-the-blood-flowing -factor. I'm betting any second hand smoke I inhale will be less of a risk than the benefits of moving about a bit. (Not that I ever would enter a smoking room, but fortunately there are none at our office.)
Besides, it's a proven fact that coders need breaks to be productive. It's a net gain for management too! ;)
.: Max Romantschuk
One thing really got stuck in my mind:
The circulatory system got a heart to pump around the blood.
But the lymphatic system, hasn’t got a heart. Instead, it relies on the movements of your muscles, to get the immune cells around the body.
Which makes it pretty clear, that not moving is not very healthy for you.
I also found, that there are two types of tiredness. The brain one, and the body one.
Brain-wise I can be completely drained, while still having too much energy in my body, to be able to sleep well.
Strangely, the opposite is not analogue. Instead, I found that my brain is much fitter in the morning, after being tired, body-wise, the evening before.
I all in all, making sport, made me come up with better ideas, being able to wrap my head around bigger things, etc. Because I slept better. What really hits it for me, is swimming. You get reeally chilly after it. And sleep like a baby. And in the summer, if nothing else, at least you see some hot girls in bikinis. ;)
We geeks have a hard time with sports. But I got a little mind-twist for you: How about you see your body as this extremely advanced machine that it is. And you want to tune it, hack it, and keep it running nicely, just like do with your (really much much more primitive computer). Use the same motivation and ways to overcome your previous associations. Remember: You can change your views, whenever you like. Do it for the fun. You don’t have to. But there is this cool thing that you wanna try... ;)
I should sell stickers, saying “My other computer... is my body!”. ;)
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Oh I'm awful about this
I am "excessively sedentary" for 8 hours every night
Why not? Smokers get breaks all the time.
Standing up too long is also bad for you - especialy for your feet.
But what is even worse for you is being unemployed (so you don't have to sit at a desk or work in a factory type job all day (or other shift)) since you then can't afford health insurance etc.
You ride a bicycle? That requires sitting on the saddle!
My god, man! Your doctors are clearly wrong, as this stufy proves you're dangerously close to death!
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
That only counts if you live in the Southern Hemisphere.
Cause obviously, we are not about 51684%* dead here up in the Northern part of the globe. Yet.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Why not? Smokers get breaks all the time.
I tend to read Slashdot instead...
Most causes for increased mortality come from statistical studies. Ergo, it is the statistics that are the main cause, not the thing they make statistics of. If those pesky researchers would just stop making so many statistics, we all would live longer and happier!
yea but they are not really healthy, are they?
God's gift to chicks
To provide a URL, it's a bit cleaner to use:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.894824v1
Just a comment about the sitting.
I have a sitting job similar to yours (sitting form 9 to 2 and then from 3 to 6).
My job also requires me to fly a bit. Almost every year I make 12 hour flights. Last year I bought one of those "compression socks" at Charles de Gaulle Airport (15 Euro IIRC) before my long flight.
The compression socks did provide a nice relief during the flight, and according to a bit I have been reading they are good for circulation.
After my flight I thought that they may be useful for my everyday office work. I have been using them since the beginning of the year and they seem nice.
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
Did they even read the articles? All of the data there is referencing time spent watching TV, not just 'sitting'. TV watching comes with a different lifestyle than just sitting. The title is misleading.
OK, I found this article, which had actual numbers:
http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.aspx?docID=634816
I was able to do the math and figure out what an 18% increase in your chance of dying per hour of TV viewing really meant: The number of people who died during the course of the study was about 3 percent of the participants over a six year period. That means that every hour of TV viewing actually increased their chance of dying by about half a percent in any given year. So if you watch TV eight hours a day, your chances of dying in any given year go up about 4 percent.
Interestingly, more people died of cancer in the study than heart disease.
Overloading is a good language feature.
Disclaimer: This post may contain overloaded words.
GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
Alright, here's a little secret for all of you:
Everyone dies, once.
I rather live enjoying my time on my seat and sofa than force myself to write emails standing up.
eTrade SUCKS
I love stories that tell you that "too much" is bad for you. Too much sitting? Bad for you!
Maybe it's because THE DEFINITION OF "TOO MUCH" IS "THE AMOUNT THAT'S BAD FOR YOU."
Fer chrissakes, "too much" water is bad for you, because you've only had "too much" once you've drowned.
You forgot this one: http://xkcd.com/189/
I'm currently working on my STR score (push-ups, sit-ups, biceps curl, etc.) and my base attack bonus (fencing). I might also get Proficiency: Martial Weapon (Foil).
All that exercise spills over into my INT score as well ;)
Look, Ray Kurzweil promised me that in ten years we'll all just be brains in jars hooked up to virtual intarwebs of nanomachines, so this whole exercise thing is moot; the singularity is sedentary.
The study says that, after 6 years, they found people who sat around watching TV for 4 hours a day had greater risk than those who sat around watching TV for 2 hours a day. And this "proves" that sitting increases your chances of death by X%.
Did they try having the two groups switch their behavior after 3 years, to see if NOT sitting actually changed things? Or is this effect natural and irreversible? Did EVERYONE in the study exhibit the same results, or were some people affected less or more than others?
They addressed issues such as smoking, but what about other lifestyle differences? How many of the people who watched TV for 4 hours a day also sat at a computer at work for 8 hours a day -- skewing their reported results? Or how many had higher stress jobs that might cause the same effect for different reasons?
Just things I wonder about when reading something like this.
I can never sleep again!
I just continously kick the seat in front of me, it is also good for the circulation.
I've just started using a treadmill desk. Unfortunately I haven't got the level quite right yet, so it's triggering my RSI, but once I get that fixed it does seem to be a good solution to the exercise problem.
I've learned a lot about radio frequency interference from cheap treadmills too ...
Rich.
libguestfs - tools for accessing and modifying virtual machine disk images
Do you know how many people die in beds?????
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
I think that would largely be the point of the article though - that sitting at a desk 8 hours a day is actively counterproductive.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/bags/a988/
Thanks science, I go to the gym at your advice and now I'm -still- going to die?
I have long since stopped giving a shit about most health risks and have instead upped my life insurance to the max. It has long since passed the point where I can make a realistic change to my lifestyle that would still leave my life enjoyable.
bend like the reed
I think this article IS saying that sitting a lot is itself harmful. Even if you are otherwise in good shape, just sitting for a long time (7 hours a day) is bad for you. Get up every hour and climb a flight of stairs.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
...I wouldn't have any activity at all!
Well to bad that pretty much every school on the planet forces you to sit for numerous hours every day to learn and quite a few jobs also require that you sit.
For me my school and job requires that I sit and most of my hobbies do as well.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
More healthy solution I can think of right now: if you're equipment consists of a computer, move the "search information" (machine S) and "enter information" (machine E) function to two spatially separated machines (two consoles a meter or two away from each other). Connect only S to the net but connect E to S in a way, that found information can easily be displayed on E.
Being a hardcore bodybuilder, I can vouch for this tidbit. The early part of my life was very physical, and I had a job in construction, also working out. Then in my early 30s, I decided to trade careers and go for computer programming. I never stopped working out, and still do with enough energy and intensity to make everybody at the gym scared of working out with me, however, I have noticed that
a) my body type has changed...the way I sit all day at the computer makes for a hip stress that is totally different, and has slowly changed my hip structure over the years.... as well my overall physical performance has changed somewhat, even though I can still lift the same weights, and yes age is also a factor here, but I noticed that my wrists are not as strong as they used to be, because of the prolonged typing.
b)my cardio has slowly decreased over the years, yes I can still run 45 minutes although with difficulty, at a high level on the treadmill, I noticed that my waning cardio makes it hard to work out like I used to, I still push past it, but notice that it takes more out of me.
Again, yes old age comes and gives you these gifts for free , but I am not that old, and know others at the same level, same age, same diet, same exercise regiment that have none of the signs I have, is it also their overall environment, and gene pool...maybe, but when I get up from sitting too long, and feel it in my hips and knees....not that I complain about it, just that I notice it....i realize the importance of keeping your body in motion.
The hip area that I talked about seems to have changed in many ways, size , tilt, and even stress points. I am certain that when I was at the beginning of my computer career, I would still take a lot of walks everywhere, because I had to, so sitting was complimented by standing and walking, but now I have this job where I have all I need at my desk, and no need to walk, I sometimes have to find excuses to take one....
just my observations..
Sounds familiar. I also don't own a car, i live 3rd floor without an elevator in the building, i usually cycle to university (20min) or walk in winter (45min). Taking the bus would take 40min, so there's really no incentive for taking it. Bad weather? I got good clothing.
If you literally sit in that chair for 7 hours, no meetings, no lunch break, no coffee breaks (with or without coffee), no toilet breaks then no it's not healthy. That's like those really long flights they also worry about, except every day. Just get up once every two hours minimum, take a minute to walk to the water cooler and back. It's not for the exercise, but it is good for the body anyway.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I'm old and fat now but in my early 20's I had a job that basically required me to jog for most of the day and it felt fucking great to be alive. Persistence hunters never cease to amaze me but the reason they don't appear to get sick is the same reason wild animals don't appear to get sick, when they do they die.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
> ...every hour spent watching television was associated with an 18% greater
> risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, an 11% greater risk of all causes
> of death, and a 9% increased risk of death from cancer.
According to these numbers you're all dead and have been for decades!
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
But I have to go outside and play now
I may have just learned more than I want to about you. Don't worry, I won't tell your wife and kids.
Say, are there cops and indians at this bar, too? And bears?
Keep hanging around there. You'll get more "exercise" than you need.
You are welcome on my lawn.
And a rubber ball gag.
You are welcome on my lawn.
> Do some physical labor and what do you feel like the next day?
Same as I do every day.
> That's right, you're in pain.
That's wrong, I feel fine. Perhaps that's because I do physical labor every day.
> I go to "working man's" bars where construstion workers hang out. These guys
> spend all day in heavy exersize...
No they don't. They spend all day operating machines that do heavy exercise. And all night drinking, gobbling burgers, and watching TV.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I hate reading about studies only in mass media outlets because of the lack of critical evaluation. Unfortunately the real study isn't showing up in the Circulation journal's past three issues and they never did give the complete title.
However, even the LA Times article states "researchers found a statistical relationship between long hours of TV viewing and a shortened life span, but the study did not go so far as to find a direct cause".
This means the results are interesting and the subject should be further evaluated in a controlled study, but are useless for practical purposes. We don't know if it was the sedentary behavior or something else, like the potato chips and soda that often go with watching TV. It may be that their conclusion is correct, but it's impossible to know from this type of study.
^X^S ^X^C
I don't sit for 7 hours straight -- I fetch drinks from the kitchen (2 floors down), use the toilet (2 floors down), take lunch for an hour (5 minutes walk away) and have 3-4 meetings a week (2-10 minutes walk/cycle away).
However, I should still take more short breaks. No one is stopping me from doing so, I just forget or don't bother.
Masterful. You definitely deserve feeding.
http://rareformnewmedia.com/
Fortunately I don't watch TV at all, since I read Slashdot all day...
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Core problem though is that 'good for you' is not a binary state toggle. And we seem to keep wanting to pretend that it is. Or at least, that's what the market droids might want you to think. Which is kinda the problem - there is nothing that's unambigiously 'good for you' - the red wine you cite, is a good example - it has ways in which it's good for you, and ways in which it's bad for you, both at the same time.
I wondered the exact same thing, how those who bounce their legs regularly, sometimes called "bouncy legs", "restless legs" or "restless legs syndrome" for those who are bothered by it, figures into this?
...and in case you're wondering, I have a very high calorie diet, I stay seated just about all day due to my job and my lifestyle, I don't otherwise exercise, but I stay at a very consistent weight of 175 (I'm 6'2" tall). I haven't gained or lost more than 5 pounds in over 20 years. ...except one time I had a very nasty flu, and I dropped to 160 -- I called it the flu diet. I'm the type that tends to eat very large portions, like a whole box of mac & cheese (which is 4-5 servings), an entire soup bowl full of ice cream (I'm sure it's 5 servings at least), I eat the same size portion at dinner that my wife and 2 kids combined eat, and so on. But, I never gain weight.
If you are one to stay seated or sedentary a lot, but bounce your legs constantly, isn't that a kind of physical activity? I for one have never been bothered by my "bouncy legs", and I certainly don't consider it a syndrome. I tend to think of it more as a sign of a high metabolism (I sometimes tell people I have the metabolism of a hummingbird). My body knows it has a lot of calories to burn, and it habitually urges me to move my legs as a way of doing that. I wonder how many calories I burn by constantly (and sometimes rapidly) bouncing my legs, all day long.
Don't worry, I won't tell your wife and kids.
I don't have a wife any more, why do you think I started going to bars? The one I go to is a redneck bar in the ghetto; I just bought a t-shirt from them. The motto is "Got Guts?" A woman who picked me up in a hippie bar took me there, and I found out that I'd known one of the owners for years.
The cops go to the Firehouse, a bar downtown that some firefighters own. The indians are too busy running the convenience stores to go to bars.
Keep hanging around there. You'll get more "exercise" than you need.
As it's in the ghetto, I think I'm more in danger staggering home. The guys at the bar like me; everybody needs a nerd friend these days. How else will they keep their computers running? Who else is going to hook up their AV gear?
Free Martian Whores!
I know many people that have a "twitchy leg" etc, when sitting for overly long, myself included at various times.
So do people with a nervous twitch have more "activity" and are thus a little bit healthier? When you're working at the keyboard your hands/arms are probably moving at least a bit, and if your leg(s) are twitching then a good portion of your body is still moving.
Healthy or non?
Besides, what was god thinking - its boring to move...
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
GOLD!
Damping absorbs vibrations. Dampening is caused by moisture.
No they don't. They spend all day operating machines that do heavy exercise.
You've never had any construction done to your house, have you? Watch them put a new roof on it some time. These guys work their asses off. As to burgers, we're omninivorous creatures. The more different kinds of foods you eat the better.
Free Martian Whores!
To all those laughing and making jokes about this... Two years ago I got a DVT as a result of too long sitting down. This is a potentially life threating problem if not spotted (As well as being very painful!) If you get a feeling of cramp in your calf muscle that doesn't go away and is even worse when walking that you can't put down to sport or a muscle strain, go see a doctor immediately! I suffered for nearly 10 days with this and then had the complication of a lung embolism as a result (That's the life threatening part). I ended up in hospital for a week hardly able to breathe and on morphine for the lung pain. I then had to spend 6 months off work recovering. And watch out, I found that some doctors are not good at identifying this problem. Take this seriously...it is not a joke. Now get up and walk around!
"If it's lost, it'll turn up. Things always do" "I love it when a plan comes together"
When I first decided to start working out again, I just went to the gym, just did the usual stuff. Did one chest exercise, one back exercise, etc., kept doing the same stuff twice a week or so. Then after about a year of that, I started reading weightlifting forums a bit, learning about "split routines" where you only do one muscle group a day, spent a bunch of time trying to decide which individual exercises I could do in my little gym at the apartment complex, how to space them apart and when to do them, how to watch my time, when to have a couple of protein shakes, things like that. I told friends that my compulsion toward planning out talent specs in WoW had spilled over into a compulsion to plan out my workout.
But man, it's worked. When I pull out my workout log... and believe me, you want a log. It's great to just be able to see that you did 6 reps of an exercise last week but you're doing 7 reps this week. It's feedback that what you're doing actually works. When I pull out my log, when I started about three months ago, I was doing 115 lbs. on the incline bench press machine, 4 sets, 6 reps each. Last Saturday, I did 175 lbs., 4 sets, 6 reps each. The improvement shows.
Seriously, take half the energy that you put into designing your last D&D character and put that into putting together a workout plan. You might be amazed to see that skill cross over a little into a skillset that geeks supposedly have no ability to take part in.
Libertarians somehow believe that private businesses should be stronger than governments but weaker than individuals.
The plural of Swede is Swedes. The plural of dynamo is dynamos.
Duh.
Damping absorbs vibrations. Dampening is caused by moisture.
There are bearfuckers at that bar.
Damping absorbs vibrations. Dampening is caused by moisture.
I exercise, and just like most Americans who work in an office, am stuck on my chair for 8 hours a day behind a computer. It's not like I can work while playing basketball or whatever. Are we supposed to either be doing manual labor all day or die?
Life, it's bad fer ya.
Might as well kill yourself now and get it over with.
Or do what I do. Live every day as if you're going to die today,
and try to die doing what you love.
They're the ones who can outrun a horse (in distance only) and can run up to fifty miles a day, if not more. Men's Health did an article on them about three years back or so? Unbelievable fuckers. Only thing is, they eat and drink a grain/vegetable mash, and that's ALL they eat and drink (for kicks, they ferment it).
Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
I'm more fidgety than my co-workers (but less fidgety than some I know who regularly wear out chairs). I used to think this behavior was good for my back... but now it seems it may also be good for my heart?
Physical jobs, especially hard ones use up your body. It's as simple as that. It's structural. It has nothing to do with how you might abuse yourself after work with booze, burgers or Television. By the time you are ready for your midlife crisis, a laborer will be all used up. He will be lucky if his back and knees aren't shot.
Whether or not you've pickled your internal organs or clogged your ateries is another matter entirely.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
I'm just a "tad" overweight, and I'm on my feet 8-10 hours a day, but when I'm home, I try to keep my legs elevated as much as possible, to keep the blood from pooling in the legs. I know that you hear a lot (and I still wonder if that is what led to the death of the Meet the Press guy) that he had some sort of deep vein thrombosis issue and something broke loose and caused problems. You hear it happening to people on long airline flights, where they are sitting a long time.
I think you're missing a few important details here...
Do some physical labor and what do you feel like the next day? That's right, you're in pain. Pain is your body's way of saying "stop that, you fool."
But if you keep doing it for a few weeks it stops hurting. Like anything else your body has to get used to exercise. Moderate discomfort from lactic acid build-up and muscle building is not the same as debilitating pain from injury. Creation and destruction are linked. We have to damage muscles slightly in order to build them. The trick is not to damage them too much at once.
I go to "working man's" bars where construstion workers hang out. These guys spend all day in heavy exersize, and the ones ten years my junior look ten years older than me. If exersize is so good for you then why do I look so young while these guys look like they could be my dad?
You are not considering other contributing factors. These men aren't exercising in a gym all day; they're working outside in the sun (skin damage) and wind (dries skin, which in the long term is skin damage). They do dangerous work which is more likely to injure them either through over-strain of muscles or simply being hit, cut, burned or otherwise beat up by job site hazards. They are culturally more likely to smoke, and certainly more likely to be be exposed to second hand smoke (since workplace smoking laws don't affect uncompleted buildings) which is bad for the skin. If they avoid non-exercise related risk factors (Smoking, excessive drinking, poor diet, extreme stress caused by trying to raise a family on a "workman's" salary), and work related risk factors (injuries, particle inhalation, etc) then they are most likely healthier than you on the inside, regardless of whether their skin looks like old leather. Even then, it's possible that you've won the genetic lottery and they haven't so your heart is in better shape despite everything. Exercise is just one factor in health. It's good for you, but just because you run 5 miles a day doesn't mean you won't keel over from colon cancer next year anyway.
The nice thing about exercise is that it's one of the controllable risk factors. I can choose to exercise more or not. I can, to an extent, control my diet, or not smoke. I can't do a lot about air quality (short of moving), genetic factors, or job related risk (I could change jobs, maybe, but not if I lack the skills to do so).
The notion that exersize, especially exersize that results in sore muscles is good for you is an excuse by drug addled jocks. The fact that it's your body producing the drug doesn't matter -- it's a drug addiction, and "it's good for you" is an excuse to keep getting high.
It's all a matter of perspective. What causes sore muscles? A combination of mild damage to the muscles (which will result in eventual strengthening) and lactic acid build up from anaerobic respiration. In either case, building those muscles will increase their maximum ability to work with stress and prevent pain in the future. You say walking is fine, because it doesn't result in sore muscles, but what if you walked all day? What if you were in worse shape than you are now? I know a very obese person for whom walking around the block a few times *does* result in sore muscles. Does that mean they should not do even so little exercise? Conversely, I can run for 15 or 20 minutes without any sore muscles at all ( I used to be able to go for much longer with no negative affects, but I've just restarted my exercise program after a long break). So I should run, but not very far or fast?
Also your argument about running endorphins is completely disingenuous. You say that pain is your body's natural way to tell you that you to stop doing something, but don't accept that equally natural endorphins might be your body's way to tell you to keep doing something? It works both ways after all. If your body uses unpleasant stimuli to tell you to stop something bad, then pleasant stimuli are probably designed to keep you doing something good, yes?
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
He must be a lumberjack.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Exercise isn't the only way to accomplish this; I'm considering getting a standing desk. I spend a lot of time sitting down programming and am often tired, and I've heard many positive stories from people who've made the switch.
Just because we do sit down quite a bit doesn't mean we were designed for it. Compare, for instance, the incidence rates of hemorrhoids in countries with sit vs. squat toilets...
How is resting in a comfortable armchair different from sleeping in a bed? If I fall asleep in front of the TV am I at risk all night? This study sounds like bullshit to me.
+1000. I was just going to say the same thing...you can't get any more "sedentary" than when you sleep. I happen to be somewhat of a fitness fanatic...56 years old and like 9.5% body fat. However I don't shy away from sitting/laying in front of the tube either. I call BS on this one for sure. For me, "sedentary" will continue to mean "not exercising".
An actual study here http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2007/1115-hamilton-inactivity.php explaining why standing is important. ...and I've been standing at my desk for a while now. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonsphotos/2255538445/
Stick a treadmill in that cubicle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadmill_Desk
Agreed, I haven't seen a troll this well done since Halberd the Elder on IRC back in '96
+1 Disagree
C'mon, one of us might have forgotten!
Also known as a drafting table.
Even if you use a chair or stool most of the time, standing up for an hour or so (cumulatively) a day keeps the leg muscles working.
Have gnu, will travel.
Well of course it is.
Because that is what "TOO MUCH" means. If you do something a lot, but its not detrimental, its not "too much". When it becomes detrimental, thats when we say its "TOO MUCH".
Fuckitty Fuck McFuck. English, motherfucking slashdot editors. Learn to fucking speak it.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Actually, I usually feel better after physical labour than if I'd just sit down the whole day. It's my body's way of saying it likes having proper circulation for a while.
You only feel pain if you're running too fast so your cardiovascular system can't keep your muscles oxygenated. Alternatively, you could also feel pain if you're so fat your joints can't take the extra stress - but if you are, it's very likely your cv system is pathetic too.
This is correct. However, if it hurts just because you ran a few steps, you're out of shape and should excerzise more.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
Perhaps a treadmill desk might be a possible solution for some people who spend many hours sitting in front of a computer or TV at home or at work. The person could then spend part of their time walking in front of their computer or TV. Presumably, they would only need to do that all the time, and could also sit down for much of each hour instead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadmill_Desk
A treadmill desk would not actually be necessary where I work. I spend about half of my time standing at a counter dealing with customers when someone is in the office. Between customers, I can sometimes just sit down and drink coffee while reading the newspaper. In those quiet moments, I sometimes do some stretching exercises or occasionally even some heavyhands calisthenics using hand weights. There is also an expensive exercise bicycle sitting unused in one corner of the office, which I could be using between customers.
It would be quite possible for me to do about 5 or 10 minutes of exercise per hour, whenever no customers are in the office. Since this is a small family business, owned by my parents, no one would object to my doing that, when I do not have anything else to do anyway.
Almost every day, either before or after work, I usually do a 1 hour walk while raising and lowering heavyhand hand weights from below my waist to above my head. I am a slightly overweight guy in my mid-50s. Over the last several years, I have gradually worked up to using 9-lb weights continuously for the hour walk. On some stretches of my walk, I switch to doing a double ski poling movement to improve the aerobic and strength fitness of my back and hips, as well. Perhaps I should also squeeze in at least some exercise during the day or evening. For me that is doable.
http://www.heavyhandsfitness.com/content.aspx?idx=54
The article focused on television, but what about other sedentary activities like reading? Is turning the page in a book more exercise than using a remote control? What about sitting in a classroom?
Procrastination; I'll think of a sig tomorrow.
I go to "working man's" bars where construstion workers hang out. These guys spend all day in heavy exersize, and the ones ten years my junior look ten years older than me. If exersize is so good for you then why do I look so young while these guys look like they could be my dad?
I worked in construction with these guys. There are lots of reason construction workers look older In construction work, you almost never get your heart rate up, so even though they get more exercise than a sedentary person, it doesn't mean they are getting good exercise. Secondly, construction work is often outside, and the sun will age you more than anything. Thirdly, have you paid attention to what construction workers eat? I know one guy who basically lives on canned soup and ramen. You're going to age pretty quick if your body doesn't have the nutrients it needs to rebuild itself.
You seem to have some weird irrational hatred of running. I'm going to say, if you are pushing yourself so hard that it hurts, you are doing something wrong. You DO need to distinguish between the pain of overcoming your laziness and the pain that says, "stop!" however. There's a big difference, but both hurt; learn to distinguish the two. I mean seriously, are you really going to deny all the scientific evidence that shows that running is good for you? Get on the same page as reality.
Qxe4
Companies with a lot of sedentary work, if they could find it profitable to encourage the physical health of their employees (through insurance costs and lost productivity), should abandon the strictly desk/chair office model with various kinds of workstations that can provide for exercise. (Liability would be an issue, but then it always is.)
The geek cycle concept isn't particularly new: http://lifehacker.com/203760/exercise-while-you-work-with-the-geek+a+cycle-tm
Standing workstations, reading stations for cardio, appropriate alternatives for the disabled for fairness's sake, and company shower/laundry facilities could reintegrate physical aspects into what has become mostly intellectual activity. I find that my focus for certain tasks is enhanced if I'm exercising during it --particularly reading challenging material while on the treadmill.
Gym currently don't seem the most conducive to work, but they are often designed with tons of distractions --blaring music to get you "pumped", treadmills with monitors playing only brain candy entertainment fare, lighting too poor for reading, etc. Put a cardio machine into an office setting and it takes on a different character.
Even then, it's possible that you've won the genetic lottery
Actually it's likely. However, when my grandmother was 95 she advised me "I don't know why anybody wants to live to be a hundred. It ain't no fun bein' old." So it's the ones who keel over from a heart attack at age 50 who win the genetic lottery; the rest of us have to endure the loss of loved ones, along with arthritis and all the other ailments of old age. I've had arthritis since I was a teenager, and I can tell you the worse thing about it is that it's not fatal, it just hurts like hell.
Yoga is good therapy for it, as well as walking. Swimming is even better. I used to swim a lot, I never got sore from swimming. Oddly, I hardly ever suffer from arthritis symptoms any more, and I'm 57.
Running is bad for your knees, especially for women. Any high-impact activity like that is bad for you, which may be why swimming never left me with sore muscles no matter how much I swam.
Free Martian Whores!
Actually, I usually feel better after physical labour than if I'd just sit down the whole day. It's my body's way of saying it likes having proper circulation for a while.
Same here; if I get engrossed at the computer my legs go to sleep. That can't be healthy. I try to get up and walk around for a while after an hour or so.
However, if it hurts just because you ran a few steps, you're out of shape and should excerzise more.
True. "All things in moderation."
Yet amazingly these jocks do tend to be in good shape.
Not when they reach my age. By then they're used up.
Free Martian Whores!
You seem to have some weird irrational hatred of running.
I have a wierd irrational fear of running over some idiot that blindly runs from behind a parked truck right into the street direvctly in front of me because he's so hopped up on endorphins that he doesn't even realize that he almost became a statistic, nor heard the screeching tires, nor noticed that he came mere feet from being run over.
Moderate exersize is of course good, but the jocks say "no pain, no gain." IMO that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
Free Martian Whores!
I find that it's hard to sit around all the time and my body forces me to get up walk and stretch when I am working. It's a great way to make new friends to.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.