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Sitting Down Too Long Is Bad Even If You Exercise

Posted by kdawson on from the get-a-move-on dept.

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.

31 of 376 comments (clear)

  1. My excuse by hedgemage · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:My excuse by happy_place · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think we really consider the impact of what it means to be in front of a computer day in and day out. yesterday a coworker and I put together some cabinets for a lab. It was outside the normal routine of programming/code work that we normally do. After four hours of this, we were both pretty beat, though there was nothing of extraordinary physical prowess required in putting the stupid cabinets together. We had to use a screwdriver, lift metal panels into place, etc, but nothing like my old grandpa used to do day in and day out on his farm. Feeling winded just climbing the steps to my office, I am starting to regret a lot about this particular field.

      Sure one can exercise, but even so, it's always forced and "unnatural" in the sense that it's not required effort for what i do all day long. It's a bit like the guy who engages in body building just long enough to get a movie deal or go on his honeymoon, and then the moment he stops he's worse off than when he started, because all that unnatural muscle turns flabby, because it simply isn't used.

      The other effect that comes with low-activity levels is that I am crankier--less willing to get up and help the kids, keep moving. When you're out of shape you tend to think of the shortest path to doing everything. I noticed this first when I saw an obese couple leaving a shopping market. Both were bickering over who put the groceries away. Then they had to climb up into their pickup, and the cart they were to put away started to drift. Since they'd already both gone to all the effort of climbing into the cab of the truck, neither of them wanted to climb out and get the cart so they yelled at each other. Someone in decent physical condition would not have thought twice about jumping out, grabbing the cart and putting it in its own spot.

      I don't know how one might solve these issues outside of making programming a full-body sport, but the concerns are legit, imo. Exercise really can't be something you tack onto the end of your day. It really should be part of the whole work experience, and there really aren't a lot of trivial solutions to that problem.

      --
      http://www.beanleafpress.com
    2. Re:My excuse by xaxa · · Score: 5, Interesting

      A little over a year ago, a month into my first job since graduation, I decided I was long overdue some exercise (I'm 24). I've always been a healthy weight, and I've never had trouble running up stairs, to catch a train, when I'm late, dancing in a nightclub etc, but I'd not done anything more than that since school. I knew that I didn't feel fit and energetic, even if I looked OK.

      I also hate doing exercise for the sake of it. Playing sport for fun is OK, but I wanted something that would force me to do exercise as often as possible. Someone suggested I cycled to work, and lent me their spare bike. This was excellent: an hour's good exercise every day (2×30mins), and it was quicker, cheaper and more reliable than any other way of getting to work -- excellent incentive to continue.

      For the first couple of weeks I was really tired when I got home -- I had only enough energy to cook something and then slob in front of the TV. But after the initial shock I seemed to adjust to it, and felt better in the evenings than I used to. After a month a few people commented that I looked healthier, and I definitely felt healthier.

      For extra exercise I tried cycling to other towns (which has purpose: I can look at tourist stuff, and the countryside is pretty along the way). I also tried cycling to the coast (80km/50miles) but lost the map halfway. I really need a companion if I'm to do it again, it got a bit dull going alone.

    3. Re:My excuse by greyline · · Score: 3, Funny

      Occasionally, I will shuffle my way over to my pantry from my computer to procure another bag of Cheetos and perhaps a Mnt Dew Code Red. Every now and then, I'll also have to empty the used bottles of Mnt Dew of urine too. My standing up and moving around requirements are thus securely met.

    4. Re:My excuse by tehcyder · · Score: 3, Funny

      I really need a companion if I'm to do it again, it got a bit dull going alone.

      a/s/l?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    5. Re:My excuse by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I started running after I got my first cubicle jockey job. Thirty minutes of pushing myself hard after work every day and ten minutes of stretching before and after. This qualifies as the 'exercise you tack on the end of your day' category, but I feel great. My legs are in excellent shape. I have more energy than I ever used too. I have a much more 'get shit done' attitude. I'm not nearly as lazy. Of course for the first few months I was just tired and sore all the time. Nowadays, however, after a year's worth of running, I feel great. It works for me =)

      I agree, a sedentary lifestyle is a problem as well as unhealthy. My recommendation, start doing outdoorsy stuff on weekends and afternoons. Pick up some sort of board sport or something. If you are new at it, it will always suck for the first couple of months. Have some perseverance though and soon you will find you have a great new hobby. The plus side of a steady workout is that you can indulge yourself. Build some muscles, increase your metabolism, you can start eating some hearty meals. Good stuuf.

      Also, you mentioned you have kids, try getting involved in a sport or something with them. Take 'em hiking. Some of my best home memories involved my dad and I wandering around in the forest finding old deer skeletons and such on the weekend =)

      --
      Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
    6. Re:My excuse by yurtinus · · Score: 3, Informative

      Cycling 1 hour a day *is* moderate...

      --
      +1 Disagree
  2. Insurance? by onlysolution · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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...

    1. Re:Insurance? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The intense nightmares are what makes quitting smoking worthwhile. I don't crave cigarettes anymore, but damn do I miss my own personal holodeck.

    2. Re:Insurance? by PaulSipot · · Score: 3, Informative

      I tried quitting several times before and I usually experience vivid dreams when using nicotine patches (The strongest 24/7 ones), I love it! It makes me want to sleep all the time, but the effect wares off after a week or two :/.

    3. Re:Insurance? by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That would not be an excuse. It would be a reason.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  3. I'll stay in my sofa by Permutation+Citizen · · Score: 5, Funny

    They can run any study they want, people get badly injured doing sports, not sitting on a sofa.

    1. Re:I'll stay in my sofa by Tom · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Please don't mod parent "Funny".

      He's actually pointing out a major cause for mankind's current crisis. No matter if it's financial, political or climate trouble, you can always look at it and find one root cause: All these are issues we are biologically ill-equipped to deal with. Long-term problems with no immediate danger. When the human brain evolved, it didn't have spare room for that kind of processing, except in the general "deal with all the other complicated stuff, if you feel like it" area we call reasoning. Our main problem was not being eaten today, finding a mate soon and getting the tribe to that other place by the end of the month. "Next year" was about as far as our ancestors ever needed to plan, so we don't have any brain matter specialized to doing it. "May hurt me in 10 years time" is a waste of energy to think about when your survival until next week is far from certain.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    2. Re:I'll stay in my sofa by ethork · · Score: 5, Interesting
      As an anthropologist, I have to say that this is basically a false picture of human development. As far as archaeologists can tell, even the earliest homo sapiens lived in complicated symbolic worlds oriented towards all kinds of social issues and conflicts. At least some anthropologists have suggested that hunter-gatherers were basically better off than contemporary workers -- obviously they consumed less, but also, so goes the argument, wanted less and wanted different things than we would want. And at the very least, the image of early homo sapiens living in a world that consisted of nothing but sex and hunger is false: these people lived in radically different symbolic worlds than us, and, if you want to judge by the huge monuments in Stonehenge or Easter Island, obviously put a ton of effort into keeping these worlds in motion. The human brain has always been more than mere instinct and reflex.

      I agree, of course, that we deal with many current problems quite badly, but that seems more like a failure in our collective organization than a failure of our biological circuitry. Suppose we take the people in Haiti who have to dig their loved ones out of collapsed buildings with their bare hands, for lack of heavy equipment to work with. Is that a failure of evolution? No, just a failure of logistics (and politics and economics...) What, exactly, is insightful about complaining about our insufficient evolution in the face of problems that need much more local and immediate solutions?

    3. Re:I'll stay in my sofa by radtea · · Score: 4, Informative

      Some native American tribes (in Mexico, I think) still are a testament to that. They walk hundrets of miles in one trip. In crappy shoes or barefoot. (After all, we’re built for it.) No problem.
      And they never get sick. They have some of the best healths on the planet.

      Non-European population... check.

      Very far away and hard to get to vaguely specified location... check.

      Remarkable physical feets (as it were)... check.

      Amazing health claims... check.

      Ok! You win a "Jean-Jacques Rousseau Noble Savage Bullshit Prize"!

      The people you're talking about are Taramuhara Mayans in Mexico. They've been moderately studied by one enthusiast. They run barefoot or very nearly and are very good at it, strongly suggesting a case can be made for minimalist running, much to the chagrin of the Running Shoe-Industrial Complex.

      The claims that they "never get injuries" and keep running into their 80's and 90's are not exactly based on a formal review of treatment records at the local hospital. The claims that they "never get sick" are just the usual hyperbolic amplification that people pursuing the "Noble Savage Bullshit Prize" engage in, heedless of the terrible damage it does to their own brains and the brains of everyone around them.

      You need to be more careful: we know that if a sufficient amount of Noble Savage Bullshit builds up in the world it can actually bring about the end of civilization.

      --
      Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
    4. Re:I'll stay in my sofa by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you look at his workout, it was extremely unbalanced (assuming that was his workout). He wasn't really doing anything to exercise his back, and he probably had weak erector spinae muscles (that run along the spine), which is a problem most people have when they get a slipped disc. Note that the erector spinae actually is connected to the glutaeus maximus, so if your legs aren't flexible, it can cause problems when you try to stretch your spine (like during situps). All it takes is a day when your muscles are stiff, or maybe you've been out drinking and you are tired, or you over-exercised, and your back-muscle weakness will cause a painful failure.

      If you want to exercise your back muscles, I would suggest doing deadlift and squat, but some people like to do supermans. I can't stand them.

      To get a well balanced body, you can do something like this:
      Day 1: Deadlift
      Day 2: Pullups
      Day 3: Squat
      Day 4: Dumbell standing back row

      You should be able to do each of these in just 15 minutes, so if you want you can warm up with a nice run or something. Pay attention to your body, but normally you should rest at least two days a week.

      To avoid injury doing these, the absolutely best thing you can do is get to know your body. Try to feel every fiber of muscle that flexes when you are lifting. Feel the pleasure of moving your body. Be aware of your limits.

      Before you are aware of your limits, to protect yourself from injury, you can do something like this: for each exercise, do three sets. One set of 10 reps at 50% of your maximum weight, one set of 10 at 75% of your maximum weight, and one set of 2 or 3 at 90% of your maximum weight. And then, don't push your maximum weight up more than 5 pounds a month for a while. After you start to know your body, you can move up faster, but at first you're going to have some muscles that are stronger than others, and that will give your weaker muscles a chance to catch up, and it will give you a chance to get to know your body.

      Also, get on youtube and watch the pros to see the technique they use. It is fluid and flowing, natural, almost like dancing. Even now I watch those guys sometimes to figure out how I can improve. Actually even in the gym I pay attention to almost everyone, I can learn from them; you can learn sometimes even from the people who do it completely wrong, and you never know when you'll run into someone who knows something you don't know. Also, if you are relaxed when you lift weights, it will automatically improve your flexibility.

      --
      Qxe4
  4. Where's the part we can use? by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "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 |
  5. Re:Misinformation && Contradictions by BenevolentP · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

  6. More to the point... by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:More to the point... by Clarious · · Score: 5, Informative

      No, you are wrong, if the normal chance of dying due to heart attack is 0.0001%, then watching TV 8 hours per day will make it 0.000001*(1+0.18*8)= 0.000244%

  7. What about smokers ? by f0rk · · Score: 4, Funny

    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 !!

  8. Re:Medical Advice from the Economic Times? by Xest · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's quite impressive, it means that theoretically I should die before I finish typing out this respon

  9. I for one am not convinced by linhares · · Score: 3, Insightful
    so they stamp out an 8-page paper with more authors than pages, in a journal called "Circulation" from the American Heart Association , whose slogan is Learn and Live. (Bias anyone?)

    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.

    1. Re:I for one am not convinced by sonnejw0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What obvious bias? It would be a bias if the authors were board members of the YMCA. They're not. That's a perfectly reasonable amount of authors, funded by well known national grant institution. And these claims are far from extraordinary: not using glucose stores (i.e. muscular inactivity) increases your blood glucose? No shit.

      You don't read scientific papers very often, do you?

    2. Re:I for one am not convinced by DuckDodgers · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The American Heart Association does not profit from this news, and it is not trying to sell anything with the results. If there was a particular medicine, exercise, food, or other product implicit in their recommendations I would be dubious. I don't think your accusation of bias is justified.

      On the other hand, I am personally troubled by the results. Between work and leisure I spend 50-60 hours per week in front of a monitor, and if the study is accurate than I would guess that most of the negative results of television watching transfer to computer use. I may resort to something absurd like an alert system every hour to force me to take a walk.

  10. Re:Synonyms by xaxa · · Score: 3, Informative

    "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.

  11. "Exercise experts"? by Rogerborg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.
  12. One reason why not moving is making you sick: by Hurricane78 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.
  13. Obligatory xkcd reference by jonaskoelker · · Score: 3, Funny

    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 ;)

  14. Re:Synonyms by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Funny

    I go to "working man's" bars where construstion workers hang out.

    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.
  15. Tarahumara Indians by Xaedalus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.