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Regular Exercise Not Enough To Make Up For Sitting All Day

Posted by Soulskill on from the now-you-tell-me dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Toronto researchers have found the amount of time a person sits during the day is associated with a higher risk of disease and death, regardless of regular exercise. The paper, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine (abstract), found that prolonged sedentary behavior was associated with a 15 to 20 per cent higher risk of death from any cause; a 15 to 20 per cent higher risk of heart disease, death from heart disease, cancer, death from cancer; and as much as a 90 per cent increased risk of developing diabetes, said Alter. And that was after adjusting for the effects of regular exercise. ... Engaging in 30 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous daily exercise does not mean it's OK to then "sit on your rear" for the rest of the day.

67 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. Excellent! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So there is no reason to regularly exercise any more!

    1. Re:Excellent! by bhagwad · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, nice try by whoever wrote the report. I have no intention whatsoever of ungluing my ass from my seat. A 15% higher risk is a trivial price to pay for a lifetime of luxury and decadence.

  2. Better take 2 minute walking breaks then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sitting for eight or more hours a day can be deadly.

    That fact has been hammered home in study after study showing the negative health effects -- including heart disease, poor circulation and joint pain -- associated with being parked on your behind for most of the day. The only sure way to prevent those problems, researchers have said, is to sit far less.

    But there is growing evidence that there are ways to reverse the damage without necessarily committing to being on your feet for eight or more hours a day.

    A new study by researchers at Indiana University published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise suggests that the impaired blood flow in leg arteries can actually be reversed by breaking up your sitting regimen with five-minute walking breaks.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/09/08/take-a-seat-you-may-be-able-to-reverse-the-damage-to-your-health/

  3. We'll get paid a risk premium now, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Considering how dangerous that desk job is...

    1. Re:We'll get paid a risk premium now, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Only if you do your part: Regular expressions at least twice a day!

  4. Eat less by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you expend less energy it needs to match down consumption too. Americans are so fat because they are used to eating more. You would never see a restaurant like Bucca Di Peppo in Europe. As an American just saying.

    A sandwich is or small salad with no sugary soda is what people who are skinny and in Europe eat for lunch. No fries supersized, coffee with sugar, or a Coke on a daily basis.

    --
    http://saveie6.com/
    1. Re:Eat less by Drethon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm 150 pounds and 5'10" and used to drink a 20 ounce pop about once a day and eating fast food two or three times a week. That was balanced out by eating nothing more than what can fit in a small lunch bag for breakfast and lunch and dinner is typically a home cooked meal. Most of the time I could eat more but just ignore the hunger. That being said just getting off the 20 ounce pop means I don't have to watch what I eat nearly as much, these days I usually just drink pop when I'm too stressed out to pass it by.

      Also I would say watch the alcohol consumption. I've seen coworkers put down more than one pitcher of beer and that is not low calorie.

    2. Re:Eat less by Viol8 · · Score: 2

      "I'm 150 pounds and 5'10" "

      I would suggest you actually need to *gain* some weight. Thats pretty skinny. (For a guy - if you're a woman ignore this).

    3. Re:Eat less by king+neckbeard · · Score: 3

      I don't think it's a matter of eating too much food as it having too much of our food be low nutrition or otherwise inappropriate food. If your body wants fat, and you cram it full of sugar, you aren't going to be filled, and you will shove your face through much more of it than your body needs in the process. Ironically, trying to eat healthy or trying to get others to eat healthy can be a big cause of this because it results in fighting and suppressing the urges of the body to meet its own needs.

      --
      This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
    4. Re:Eat less by itzly · · Score: 3, Informative

      5'10" and 150 lbs is a BMI of 21.5, which is about ideal.

  5. Limited power to change working situation... by quintessentialk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I appreciate this and other studies that affirm that sitting most of the day is bad for you. What am I supposed to do about this? Like a great many professional workers, I work for a large, un-hip company whose furniture, real estate, and office layout is driven by cost and not ergonomics or health. I can't just decide to have a standing desk or reconfigure my 'workstation' -- arbitrarily, and due to client sensitivities I can't work from home. I guess I can just hope the news gets around and maybe my kids will get to have the choice.

    1. Re: Limited power to change working situation... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You are screwed. That is our system and if you do not like it, there are a billion Indians who would. Have a nice day 99.99%'er and thank you for dieing to make the .01%'ers even richer - that mega yacht is getting cramped!

    2. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by daq+man · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Exactly, I'm in the same situation. The only thing that I can do is at least try to move as much as I can when I am allowed. So, I get up from my desk at least once an hour and walk to someone's office rather than calling them on the phone. Bathroom breaks are taken at the furthest bathroom from my office. When I was in a multi-floor office building I'd go to the bathroom on the floor three down from the office and take the stairs. In the morning I don't park in the spot closest to the building but walk a bit.

      I'm still stuck though. The rest of my time is spent typing at my desk or in meetings and I can't exactly stand and pace in the corner of the meeting room.

    3. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by jones_supa · · Score: 3, Informative

      You could mitigate the damage by taking small walking breaks while in work. Go to the gym couple times of week. Use a standing desk at home: the Ikea Björkudden is a relatively cheap option at $99.

    4. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Informative

      Take a 5 minute walk every hour if you can.

      If you have standard cubes you could see about having the desk surfaces mounted at standing desk height. Then all you need is an adjustable chair/stool. You might be able to either arrange that outright, or for a future (and probably inevitable) move as companies are fond of swapping people around.

      If you have any health issues or concerns you might talk to your doctor to see if a standing desk would help, and if so get a note. A company that wouldn't do it based on preference might be more inclined to accommodate it to address a health issue. (Of course it is better to avoid the issue to begin with.)

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    5. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 5, Funny

      You can get up and take a five minute smoke break every 30 minutes.
      Sitting on your ass all day sounds so bad, taking up smoking might actually be a net-win.

    6. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually it doesn't. What the article is trying to say is that exercise will not counteract the effect of prolonged sitting. The problem with that assertion is, it's not proven. The article simple correlates health outcomes with people who exercise and have prolonged sitting, through meta analysis.. Nothing more. IT DOES NOT PROVE CAUSATION. Therein lies the problem. Even the correlation is somewhat weak since it was not a single experiment designed to observe those outcomes but rather base those conclusions on other research.

      So there is no proof here. But it does highlight an area for future research.

    7. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      True going to the gym, according to the article, would not help. This has not been proven. So take that assertion with a grain of salt. However, taking mini breaks during the day would be of benefit. The key is not to sit for prolonged periods of time.

    8. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Standing poses other health risks. There is no silver bullet. They key is to get people to move around on a regular basis at work.

    9. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by jones_supa · · Score: 2

      It does not hurt either. But remove the gym part from my message if you want. :)

    10. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by bitingduck · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You can get up and take a five minute smoke break every 30 minutes.
      Sitting on your ass all day sounds so bad, taking up smoking might actually be a net-win.

      Especially if you don't light the cigarette.

      Smoking is one of the few things where you can look at study after study and it's unambiguously very, very bad for you. They don't have to tease correlations out like in the "latitude of birth correlates with risk of hangnails" kind of studies, it just jumps right out of the data.

      So take a smoking break, but don't light up. Or at least don't inhale.

    11. Re: Limited power to change working situation... by doombob · · Score: 2

      I have had this at the office for the past six months and love it. I know anecdotal and all that, but I switch between standing and sitting a couple times and have felt really good since getting this. I seem to have eliminated the mid afternoon sleepiness, and now I'm also much more tired when I go to sleep at night so can't make it through an episode of anything on Netflix. Feeling more energy through the day and sleeping really well through the night.

    12. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Switch to e-cigarettes. Practically all risks from smoking are because of the tar you inhale, not the nicotine. Nicotine is only harmful in very high doses.

    13. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by sribe · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What am I supposed to do about this?

      Question the studies and the motivation behind their being pushed so hard ;-)

      Question why studies that reach contrary conclusions get no publicity.

      Question why, even though there is absolutely zero evidence that stationary standing is better for you, standing desks are being pushed so hard.

      Then go for a run.

    14. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

      correlation is the first step in establishing causation

      there has never been a single scientific discovery ever that didn't start with a "hey, that's interesting" correlation

      so i don't understand how "correlation does not equal causation," a useful phrase meant to remind us to keep an open mind, has evolved into a kneejerk reinforcement to close your mind, "whoa, whoa, i'm not changing my preconceived notions bub when prevented with new evidence"

      that's what the phrase has become: a way to wave away data that people aren't comfortable with

      "correlation does not equal causation," "correlation does not equal causation," "correlation does not equal causation..." you see it parroted under any article that might challenges someone's ideology or beliefs, all the time

      the phrase has become toxic and worse than useless

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    15. Re:Limited power to change working situation... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

      > even though there is absolutely zero evidence that stationary standing is better for you, standing desks are being pushed so hard.

      False.

      I switched to standing desk alternative between siting and standing. I most certainly do feel better as the constant switching every 15 mins or so breaks up the complete monotony and stress of siting all day.

      My personal subjective experience over-rules your "data."

  6. Standing desks by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This really makes me wish it was the norm for employers to provide standing desks. It seems like the evidence is mounting that traditional desks are killing us. But since a decent adjustable standing desk costs ~ $700-$1500 US, they're seen as a luxury.

    I'm not sure it would be a bad thing for OSHA to require employers to provide adjustable desks for office workers.

    1. Re:Standing desks by kenj123 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      wait till employers figure out they can move cube walls closer together and cram more people in the same office space. your office will look like a phone booth. (for younger people, here's what a phone booth is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...)

    2. Re:Standing desks by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 2

      Standing desks DO NOT solve this issue since you are still not moving and poses other health issues. You can't stand in one place all day. People need to sit as well.

    3. Re:Standing desks by GLMDesigns · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That's what I do. I have an electric tea kettle and drink tea all day. That means I have to go fill the tea kettle and go on bathroom breaks. I try to walk down a few flights of stairs and walk back up every 2-3 hours as well. (I haven't fully incorporated that into my routine yet.)

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    4. Re:Standing desks by 3.5+stripes · · Score: 2

      It's actually pretty hard to overhydrate unless you are slamming down a couple of liters an hour, if you eat a balanced diet, you're not going to be peeing out much in the way of minerals, your body does a pretty good job of keeping them in balance.

      --


      He tried to kill me with a forklift!
    5. Re:Standing desks by TeknoHog · · Score: 2

      I can personally tell that working at a standing desk involves quite a lot of movement. It's not like you have to stand in attention -- you can keep changing your posture, move your feet around, etc. while actually working/typing. I also feel like it solves ADD-type issues to a great extent, as you don't have to fight your body's natural urge to move.

      It's true that standing for hours on end isn't great for you either. The idea isn't so much about sitting vs. standing, but not staying in one place/posture too long. When you sit down for a break from standing work, it feels much more like a break.

      BTW, my standing desk consists of a coffee table on top of a desk. It's not quite perfect yet, but sure beats sitting down.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    6. Re:Standing desks by TeknoHog · · Score: 2

      How is that adjustable? Do you always have to work standing up?

      It's not adjustable. A good question, though. My standing desk is for the computer only, and I have another, regular desk for paperwork. I find this a good, balanced setup, as I have quite a bit of paperwork due to studying math. I've also had full coding/writing days on the standing computer with no problems -- I do take breaks, after all.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    7. Re:Standing desks by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 2

      My standing desk consists of a wide board laid on top of two 5 gallon buckets which costs a total of $10-15? Why would you ever pay $700-$1000???? Are we so far away from simple ingenuity?

      I was referring to adjustable standing desks. I.e., for the use case where one alternates between standing and sitting as his computer, multiple times per day.

    8. Re:Standing desks by firewrought · · Score: 3, Informative

      Do you know of any articles that back up your claim?

      Read this brief on the perils of both sitting and standing, and then check the references at the bottom. Notably, standing all day leads to varicose veins and puts a strain on your circulatory system.

      Just generally, the factory production line taught us long ago that holding the same pose or making the same motions all day long will have chronic repercussions. (If you ever have to work an assembly line, hope it's in a factory that practices job rotation so your tasks are varied over time.)

      --
      -1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
  7. Sounds logic by houghi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the pas few thousands of years, humans have always been mobile. And being mobile, I do not just mean walking. I mean moving around all day.

    It is only in the past 75 or so years that we have started to do a LOT of nothing. We sit at our desk and the most we walk is to the printer.

    Just look at pictures of 75 years ago and see how few cars there were. All these people and so few cars. They either walked, took a bike or at least walked to the train station. And now we have electric toothbrushes and don't stand up to switch channels.

    So what has replaced the moving around all day? Nothing. We don't even stand up to go to the phone anymore.

    I noticed this when I went sailing with some friends. On a sailing boat on the sea you move around all day when you just want to sit. Otherwise you fall over. The result was that I was aching all over as I used muscles I normally don't use.

    Nothing has replaced what we used to do in the last few thousands of years.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  8. Allow me to summarize every medical finding by NotDrWho · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Anything enjoyable, comfortable, or sinful is bad for you. Ideally, we should all work as rowers on a slave ship eating nothing but cardboard and water.

    That must be why our ancestors in the past led such long, disease-free lives.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  9. "15 to 20 per cent higher risk of death by wiredog · · Score: 3, Funny

    from any cause"

    Isn't the risk of death from any cause 100%? At least for us mortals?

    --

    Best Slashdot Co
    1. Re: "15 to 20 per cent higher risk of death by rossdee · · Score: 2

      "But over the same time period, people who sit all day long are more likely to die sooner -- no matter what it's from.

      The implication being that sitting all day seems to help whatever is already killing you do it faster."

      So the people who sit all day have increased their risk of being hit by a large asteroid, but such an impact is going to wipe out the rest of us as well, therefore we need to get those people up and moving or we are all going to die!

  10. is sleeping for 8 hours straight as bad? by kenj123 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm going to set my alarm clock to go off every hour at night so I can take a 5 minute walk. i'll live forever.

    1. Re:is sleeping for 8 hours straight as bad? by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm going to set my alarm clock to go off every hour at night so I can take a 5 minute walk. i'll live forever.

      Congratulations! When's your wife due?

  11. Sitting or over eating? by Drethon · · Score: 2

    From the article: "The authors extrapolated from available research that those who spend long hours in sedentary activity are 90% more likely than those who don't to develop type 2 diabetes." I am not a doctor but my understanding is a majority of type 2 diabetes is caused by being overweight. So is it the sitting that is causing the problems in general, and the type 2 diabetes specifically, or is it due to burning less calories than those in an active job so consuming the same calories leads to being over weight? Just my bent $0.02.

  12. Correlation Causation? by HnT · · Score: 2

    Is this merely a correlation or actual causation directly linked to the sitting? This study-of-studies seems very nebulous at best with different studies having different thresholds for what "prolonged sitting" actually means and what alternatives are there? Are standing desks really an alternative?

    --
    "Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." - Mark Twain
  13. Re:Cause, or effect? by Culture20 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are sedentary people more likely to die, or are people more likely to die sedentary?

    Dead people are more likely to be sedentary.

  14. Ten years behind but catching up! by HnT · · Score: 4, Informative

    You seem to have a very utopian idea of Europe. Don't worry, Europe is generally some ten years behind contemporary developments in the States but we are quickly catching up especially in rising obesity and directly linked diseases. The massive portion sizes in the States have not always been this huge and gradually grew. There are enough restaurants over here already offering ridiculously massive portions or all-you-can-eat buffets and they make it their main selling point. Oversize clothes stores can be found everywhere as well.

    --
    "Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." - Mark Twain
    1. Re:Ten years behind but catching up! by Rich0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You seem to have a very utopian idea of Europe. Don't worry, Europe is generally some ten years behind contemporary developments in the States but we are quickly catching up especially in rising obesity and directly linked diseases. The massive portion sizes in the States have not always been this huge and gradually grew. There are enough restaurants over here already offering ridiculously massive portions or all-you-can-eat buffets and they make it their main selling point. Oversize clothes stores can be found everywhere as well.

      Yep, "American" portion sizes are a much more recent thing than people remember, hardly 20 years ago a typical medium fountain drink cup was called a large and a small was the size of a soda can. Triple cheese burgers didn't start showing up at places like Wendy's until around 15 years ago as well.

      That said, we really do need to encourage people to drink more water.

      If I go to a Burger King and just ask for tap water (for free) I get one of those tiny little cups you might get from a water cooler dispenser - maybe 1/6th the capacity of even a value soft drink. I'd need to refill it about 10 times during the course of a meal since I tend to drink a lot. So, I feel like I'm being punished for drinking water, which is of course the healthiest option there is.

  15. Well then we're all doomed by Karmashock · · Score: 2

    because the sitting all day is happening... so... genetic engineering anyone?

    I look forward to a new genetically engineered super species... and of course the gills... and flying squirrel wings... and internal testicles. And I assume women would like to lay eggs or something because they don't appear to like the whole pregnancy thing.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
    1. Re:Well then we're all doomed by swillden · · Score: 2

      Yes, we're all doomed... to an average life expectancy of 85+ years, and rising. Spending your days on your butt may cost you a year or two, on average, but given that two hundred years ago your life expectancy would have been around 40 years, drastic action is hardly called for.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  16. Walking Paper? by Luthair · · Score: 2

    Wasn't there a paper recently about how walking for 30-minutes countered about 4-hours of sitting?

  17. What if you don't sit still by king+neckbeard · · Score: 2

    We keep hearing about how bad sitting is for your health, but usually don't have much on the specific details. There's the sedentary element, which would be taken care of by exercise, but there's also apparent negative factors. However, not much research seems to try and nail down the specifics. Are people who are not in static positions, or bounce their leg not subject to these health effects? If so, it could be that a lot of children are naturally fighting for their health, much to the chagrin of strict teachers.

    Also, do any of the negative effects apply, other than perhaps bone stress inherent to putting weight, to someone very active while sitting, such as a drummer?

    --
    This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  18. Re: higher risk of death by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just want to know how sitting on my ass all day increases my chance of being eaten by a shark by 15 to 20 percent.

    You don't stand a chance against a Land Shark if you're sitting down.

  19. standing desk is incompatible with head-down work. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The overseers want to be able to look across the sea of cubes with low walls and see everyone's head bent down, toiling on their work for the owners. The nail/person that stands up gets hammered down.

    Have you never heard the term prairie-dogging with respect to cube farms?

    And what is this suggestion about walking to the furthest restroom. You're not being paid to walk to the restroom: you're being paid to work, and work you shall! You're lucky we don't just put a slops bucket in your cube that you have to carry out at the end of the day.

    The US Federal law requires providing you with 2 10 minute breaks, in addition to your 30 minute lunch. We get to choose when you take those breaks. We provide you with those breaks: it takes 10 minutes to walk from the timeclock to your work station, and a similar time when you leave at the end of the day.

    Thank you, and back to work now.

  20. standing desks by mrjacques · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We have a budding activist for a son (he's 12). We all stand at our desks at our house, but our son, of course, has to sit all day long at school. We're encouraging him to start campaigning for standing desks at his public school, for all children. Yeah, yeah, I know; it'd be a change, and change is difficult, but it seems that the benefits to our society would far outweigh the fixed costs and the socio-educational-cultural adjustments that would have to be made. My own lay estimate is that we'd eliminate most of the childhood type-2 diabetes and improve the classroom educational environment.

  21. I wonder if they also considered stress by cjjjer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One of the issues with studies like this are they very specific and don't look at the associated environment(s). What I mean is most people who sit all day in a job can be pretty bored/stressed/hate their job kind of people. And since stress is also a contributor to some or all of the diseases ailments they mentioned who is to say that by sitting and working in a boring/stressful job isn't more of the factor than just sitting.

  22. Re:We all have to die one day by Will.Woodhull · · Score: 5, Informative

    Delaying it is not going to make it any better or worse.

    True enough. For death itself.

    The thing to really fear is if sitting on your butt all the time increases the risk that you won't be able to enjoy sex for the last 10 years of your life because you'll be too sick to complete the sex act. Even when making love all by yourself. You won't have the heart for it any more. In a very literal way.

    That's the true message here. Not that death will take the indolent sooner, but that if you develop one of the sedentary diseases, you will not be able to have much fun in the last, lingering, decades of your life.

    Get off your keister and move around a bit. We've got the technology... take your coffee and lunch breaks with a walk with an audio book. Replace your computer desk with a treadmill equiped with a keyboard. Move your butt!

    That might be a good rallying cry for all geeks: Move your butt.

    --
    Will
  23. Re:Exercise: When and How? by beowulfcluster · · Score: 2

    You were annoying the developers because you were doing it the wrong way. Your factor of four speed doc writing improvement comes out of the developer interruption budget.

  24. Needs More Study by nealric · · Score: 2

    I'm not convinced the sitting variable has been properly isolated. The people who get regular exercise but sit for long periods are mostly office workers. Perhaps it's the stress of an office job that is getting to these people rather than sitting. I also note that this "study" aggregated other studies. One of those studies defined excessive sitting as someone who watches more than five hours of television a day. I submit that anybody who watches more than five hours of television a day is suffering from depression or some other condition that would lead to doing such a thing.

  25. GeekDesk! by danaris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is why I got my department to buy me a GeekDesk a couple of years ago. I don't stand all day every day, but it lets me stand quite a lot of the time.

    Since then, my chronic low-grade upper-back stiffness has decreased a lot—but I find that on weekends, when I tend to sit on the couch with my laptop a lot, it frequently comes back. My legs still sometimes get tired from standing for a few hours at a time, but overall, I think it was a really, really good decision.

    If you can't afford a GeekDesk, and think you can handle losing the chair cold turkey, there are much cheaper standing desks that can get you off your butt and on your feet—for your health! :-)

    Dan Aris

    --
    Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
    1. Re:GeekDesk! by CastrTroy · · Score: 2

      Even having permanent standing desks combined with a drafting stool of the proper height could go a long way without increasing the cost of furniture. That would allow you to easily switch between standing and sitting without having a desk that has height adjustments.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:GeekDesk! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This is why I got my department to buy me a GeekDesk a couple of years ago.

      Instead of paying $979 for that desk, I use a regular $39 table, and bought four sections of PVC pipe for $0.79 each, and extended the legs.

      My monitor is attached to this arm, so I can swing it between my standing desk and a full recliner. So I work about half the time standing, and half the time laying down. The only time I sit, is in meetings.

    3. Re:GeekDesk! by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

      > I wonder how much a standing desk would really help.

      I switched to one a few years back. I was extremely skeptical at first.

      The first few days of usage was enough to convert me for life. Absolutely love it ! You sit for a while, stand for a while. It breaks up the monotony of not moving. Especially if you take a 5 min break every 45 - 55 mins.

      > I would suspect just-standing as you would at a standing desk is better than sitting,

      No, as that is too hard on the feet / soles.

      > if only because of micro-movements involved in remaining standing.

      Correct.

  26. Re: higher risk of death by MisterSquid · · Score: 3, Funny

    I just want to know how sitting on my ass all day increases my chance of being eaten by a shark by 15 to 20 percent.

    You don't stand a chance against a Land Shark if you're sitting down.

    Plumber

    I didn't ask for a plumber. Who is it?

    Telegram

    --
    blog
  27. Little cup is not a punishment by Trachman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Little cup is not a Burger King punishment. It is their management decision to limit the water cup size to make attempts to have soda in water cups impractical.

    While stealing soda in Burger King sounds like a ridiculous idea, this option has been considered and addressed by reducing paper cup for water size.

  28. Being Alive Shown to be Deadly. by McFly777 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Being Alive Shown to be Deadly.

    After several years of exhaustive research, scientists have found that the greatest single contributor to death is being alive. "In 100% of the cases, the subjects death was preceded by a period of being alive," said one researcher. Even after eliminating other potential contributors, such as accidental death, suicide, etc. and adjusting for the age of the subject, the statistics remain strong. "If you are alive today, then you may die tomorrow."

    With the rise of Obamacare, these findings could become even more vital, due to the potential effect that such details could have on the total cost of the program. "I think the insurance industry has known this for years, and has been keeping it away from public knowledge," said one official under condition of anonymity. One possibility would be to establish initiatives to curb the spread of being alive. "By reducing the number of people who are alive, we could significantly decrease the number of deaths, regardless of cause. This could amount to trillions of dollars in government savings, but I am not sure if the general public would be willing to give up on such a well established habit," he continued.

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    McFly777
    - - -
    "What do people mean when they say the computer went down on them?" -Marilyn Pittman
  29. Fine. by russotto · · Score: 2

    If I stand for any length of time, my knees hurt. My back hurts. Walking isn't so bad, but standing... ugh. Better to die a little earlier than be in pain all the time, no matter what health researchers think.

  30. Correlation by the+grace+of+R'hllor · · Score: 4, Funny

    You're saying that correlation is a leading cause of causation?

    1. Re:Correlation by circletimessquare · · Score: 2

      or, or... does correlation only correlate with causation? /s

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it