Regular workouts don't decrease death risk if you're also a couch potato
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comAre you sitting down? It's slowly killing you
Seeded on Fri Jul 23, 2010 4:42 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
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WTF...when is nature going to catch up with the fact that we are not hunter-gatherers anymore? Evolution is the most utterly incomptent system I have ever encountered.
THAT DOES IT!!!!!!!
After I get done working out and I go to McDonalds to eat, I'm standing up through the whole meal!
hey, after watching jerry, I feel Normal !!!......
I'd say the article makes a lot of sense. Past generations did not sit on the bottoms much compared to today and they didn't have the obesity problems we have today. Of course the kind of processed foods we eat are a factor too.
It's funny because just a couple of weeks ago I re-arranged my desk so that I stand up to work if I want to. I average about four hours per day standing up and I have definitely noticed benefits.
MSNBC ran an article several months ago about special kinds of computer desks with treadmills where people walked slowly as they worked on their computers with great weight loss results.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18724765/
This link too shows the benefits of a treadmill desk
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8132086/
Koyaanisqatsi.
Evolution doesn't care about life span only reproduction matters. As long as sitters reproduce as effectively as standers there will be no evolutionary pressure to select for either standers or people better adapted to sitting.
New career opportunity...
Design, manufacture and market new line of standup chairs, couches, tables, desks, etc.
Also aerobic standup exercisers.
The article states "The current obesity epidemicin the United States has been attributed in part to reduced overall physical activity." How come no one seems to address the constant stuffing of ones face with food...come on...you can be as big a coach potato as you like and you can even eat bad foods but I do not think that this alone will make you obese but when you stuff yourself to the gills every time you eat you will be obese...I see this every day with my co-workers and even with my father...how does ALL that food fit into a stomach...and then they wonder why they are fat and sluggish and tired all day! Eat a quarter of what you'd normally eat and you will loose weight...I can guarantee it...I think people are addicted to food or are at least addicted to being stuffed with food and no one seems to want to address that!
"How come no one seems to address the constant stuffing of ones face with food"
Eating was not the topic of the article. It was about the relationship between exercise, the number of hours spent sitting, and increased risk of mortality. There's always some holier-than-thou person in the crowd who has to start judging others by their lifestyles, just like there is always the idiot who turns any discussion into liberals vs. far right. Looks like you are that idiot today, queenie.
I wonder if this has to do with decreased circulation? Remember that NBC News reporter who died because of being cramped up in a tank while he was reporting in Afghanistan? Darned if I can't remember his name, but it was just because of the lack of circulation. Honestly, I can't imagine sitting for 6 hours at home after spending so much time at my desk at work. My butt falls asleep. I will sit for a couple hours, but definitely get up during that time.
Donna--That would be David Bloom--terrific CBS reporter --died of pulmonary embolism--after sitting for extended periods of time (cramped and legs folded (in a tank in Iraq covering the war)--but there are other factors (this can also be a serious problem for pregnant women).
I think the reason they exclude time sitting at work is because the majority of folks probably interrupt their time at their desk often enough --just maybe not their time on the couch or other places at home.
You are right on the mark Queenie! Furthermore I'm not so sure sales67 bothered to read the entire article before criticizing your response. Cleary the article DID discuss issues like "metabolic consequences", "triglycerides" (for which there was even a hyperlink), "high density lipoprotein", "cholesterol", etc. These are food issues too.
Lifestyle is the point of the article with the primary focus on sitting. The article even emphasized time spent sitting outside of work. It seems to me the focus IS lifestyle. Food too is a factor and the article deals with that. Nowhere did you or the article deal with the liberal v. conservative of anything. It seem scales67 is the one not dealing with the issue. Clearly, you are totally correct and your point is well taken.
Sorry, Ralph Toynbee. You need to take a course in Reading Comprehension 101. While the article mentioned triglycerides, etc., it was not about dietary habits, obesity, etc. It was about the relationship between sitting and mortality.
@ TheGreatEmperor
You really don't know squat about evolution do you?
He hassn't "evolved", how could he commnet positively. he sees eveerybody advancing and he is standing still.
What a joke anything you do is wrong I do not pay attention to this crap. I just eat well and excercise but to listen to these idiots and all thier propaganga is a joke.
Obviously you're not a scientist. The product of this study isn't something you can touch or feel like a nuke or a space ship. Just b/c you sit on the couch too much doesn't mean you will die early - you simply increase your chances of becoming part of that number of people who do. For example, if driving with one hand on the wheel and one eye closed in an L.A. freeway increases your chances for a car crash, it doesn't mean you will actually get in a car crash from driving on an L.A. freeway with one hand on the wheel and one eye close - you simply increase your chances. Science is a joke?...No, but saying that science is a joke is.
Kinda agree with you there George......
Fact still remains that humans are living healthier, happier and LONGER than generations past. Regardless of our sitting to exercising ratio. News outlets grab a sentence and make it a full on , attention grabbing story to make us all shake and cry about our poor rotten lives.
I could eat well, exercise and see a doctor every year.....................then again - I could get run over by a truck tomorrow.
live for today!
I am not getting the qualifying "outside of work". Does that mean that sitting 8 hours at work doesn't have a negative effect?
No it does have a negative effect, I think they are just assuming most of us sit 8 hours in our routine, rote, run of the mill cubicles so it's kind of a given and they are measuring how much additional sitting time you do above and beyond. Meaning how much of your free or leisure time is spent sitting. Unfortunately, we live in a society that basically forces us to sit on our a**es every day, for hours on "end" (pun intended) School (there is alot of pressure from educational lobbyists to extend school day and the school year.) Copious amounts of homework some kids get, then work. The majority of us will sit at desks or driving in cars etc. Most of us are lucky to find the time or energy to even think about the gym.... I wonder if the effect is as bad if you're lying down.. reclining rather than just sitting.... :)
I think the researchers just wanted to exclude time at work because it would complicate the study--people probably would lose track of actual time sitting at the office with some much going on--easier to keep track of at home?
I wouldn't worry about time kids spend sitting at their desks in school (ever watch the typical elementary or middle schooler? You can hardly call that sitting really...)
@callanish
I know that it is thoroughly incompetent. I suppose we're going to have to wait for millions of years for our bodies to adapt to eating McDonald's and never being active? Oh wait, we can't, because we don't possess that longevity.
So heavy people tend to sit more? Who would have figured.
The article made no reference to weight - it talks about mortality rates with various degrees of exercising and sitting.
If you read the article instead of just making dumb comments, you wouldnt get your soapbox kicked out from under you.
Please tell me the intent of this headline and in-depth investigative report: was it to discourage those who don't exercise from trying, or rather to try to convince those who do exercise that it isn't doing them any good? Let's try to do better, please.
"...who sat more than six hours a day (also outside of work) were 18 percent more likely to die".
I believe we are all going to die some day. Who writes this stuff? Flush.
I like how it is "okay" to sit all day at work.
If sitting for extended periods of time is bad for you shouldn't sitting 8 hours a day in a cubicle just as bad!! Anyone else see the "corporate" bent here?? Once again the "corporate" controlled media exonerates the working conditions at work but heaven forbid we sit at home!!
THat's NOT what this research says. They EXCLUDED time at work--It means the study just doesn't speak to what you're doing during work time--That doesn't mean it's good for you if you sit then also--This study only talks about time at home. Remember science class and how you learned to test a hypothesis?
This discourages people who are forced through employment to sit 8 hours a day from even trying to mitigate the risks. If they work out at a gym EVERY NIGHT it's just a waste of time? It doesn't offset the work day? I guess people who can't even do that should go buy their tombstone now.
I know 8 hours a day on my butt is bad, but it's required. One would think that adding exersize to that horrible equation has to be somewhat beneficial. This study says there is none?
I dont think its saying that. I believe they are taking the 8 hours of sitting at work as a constant - its the additional sitting AFTER work and working out that they are evaluating. So if you sit 8 hours at work, go hit the gym, then go home and sit and watch TV till you go to bed, that time working out didnt really do anything. If you sit 8 hours at work, the hit the gym, then sit less than 6 hours after that - your mortality rate is better than someone that sat for more than 6 hours after work/gym.
We could try raising the desk surface by about 1 foot. Then cubicle-izens would stand at their desk to work. Chairs could be replaced by high stools that you lean against but do not sit down on - or by high chairs without padding on the seat, so that it's uncomfortable to sit on them for long.
What if my girlfriend is sitting on my face? She's still exercising.
She will be okay no one has ever died of boredom.
Haha... +1
LOL +2
Humor is awesome.
While I understand the value of exercise and seek to obtain that on a daily basis, I have to wonder if the recommendations of these experts is to stand and/or move at all times when...not sitting? Hello??? How is that possible in the daily routines of most of us who sit on their way to work when either driving or on public transportation, sit at work, sit on their way home from work and then tired at the end of the day, sit until we go to bed?
Just wondering.
This article has convinced me not to sit so much ... so I'm going to do more lying down on the couch! Badda badda bing. All kidding aside, will have to remind myself to get up and move around more at work. I work out almost every day and eat very healthy. There comes a point where you have to quit worrying about every single article out there, that in itself causes stress, which reduces your life expectancy lol. Eat healthy, exercise, stay hydrated, try to get as much sleep as you can, surround yourself with positive, uplifting people ... to me that is the key.
I think too many of you are reading this article and becoming way too defensive. Perhaps there is some guilt, followed by ignorance with your unnecessary and rather unintelligent rants.
The reason I believe they excluded work related amounts of "sitting" is due to the fact we all work different jobs. DUH! And for those who say "Wah wah wah I sit at desk all day," there are those, like me, whom work at a hospital, and walk 10-20 miles a day, lift/pull/push 100-400 lb machinery and patients for 12-16 hours on certain shifts. It is excluded so they don't have to base their research on such a broad, varying factor.
This seems to go out to those people who under a normal 40 hour work week and, hopefully, 56 hour sleep schedule, utilize 72 of free time for mostly sitting. If you workout for 1 hour a day on the treadmill, elliptical and some push ups, your ratio of 7 hours of exercises versus 65 hours of watching TV, baseball games, driving in your car, ect, is, in fact, not healthy.
Some people I know who are trying to lose weight hit the gym for that hour, and sit for the rest of the day thinking they did enough to lose sufficient weight. Instead of leading an active life style by actually walking around town for a few hours, playing a sports for 3 hours, or just not sitting by the TV, they believe they're little dose of cardio cures all. Well, we have proof it does not. It's common sense to me, but here we have empirical proof of that.
Children used to PLAY outside and Parents spent time outside with them. WE left our work AT work and did NOT take it everywhere we went. YOU can blame the food all you want to but it all amounts to Calories in and Calories out plus keeping the body moving enough so the heart beats at a strong steady rate. Imagine if the farmers had the vaccines then that we do now. With the good food and clean water along with their work ethics, they could have lived to be 100. I think the life span will start to go down because our work now is mostly sitting on our aSSes.
OH and it would help a great deal if we could get the FACTORY FARMS gone and the Growth Hormones and Antibiotics with them.
Well I agree lifestyles have change luvenia--but my teens are probably more physically active than I ever was--and that goes for their friends--(and my parents sure weren't outside playing with me--they would have laughed at the thought). I know obesity is a growing problem but the majority are still maintaining normal weights so we're not ALL lazy slobs waiting for the twinkies to fall. (Personally, the fact I have a blackberry means I can actually leave my office and go do something myself, since I don't have to be tied to a physical location to get the job done now.) Portion size--food convenience (frozen, high salt content)--and suburban living (having to take a car for nearly everything) means you have to put more and more effort into your fitness --
Eating was not the topic of the article, nor was it about growth hormones or antibiotics. It was about the relationship between exercise, the number of hours spent sitting, and increased risk of mortality. Get a clue!
Whatever are we supposed to do with the rest of our time..run in place? Also, there are chores to do, etc. Bet women fared better than men!
"OH and it would help a great deal if we could get the FACTORY FARMS gone and the Growth Hormones and Antibiotics with them".
Yeah, but that would cut into someone's profits and we can't have that.....
I need at least 3-4 hours a day down time, be it taking a nap, reading a book, watching the tube or nothing at all. I am running around like a crazed animal all day at work, I like kicking back.
OK, so who has 6 hours a day "outside of work" to sit? Well, I suppose there's commute time, which for me adds an hour of sitting. But still.... if you are an exerciser, then you've got probably at least an hour spent not sitting outside of work. I think it's a dumb study. Another example of correlation not implying causation.
Apparently, the people who did this research have never done squats and leg press.
I workout 3 hours a day, and Wednesdays and Saturdays are my leg day. The days after doing these, you're not gonna want to stand up.
Since i'm recently retired and am still doing 3.5miles in an hour each day, at a 5% incline and eat only fish and lots of veg, should i stand up until i go to bed....? this article needs expansion since most persons who work in offices sit for almost 8 hours daily...worst if you get served coffee and there is a canteen on the premises, I know. i still think the amount consumed and what is consumed, at each meal, plays a critical role in the whole obesity factor! exercise is also critical but one simply cant just pace the floor and watch TV, after finishing two very intense hours at the gym....I'm tired of all these studies they really just bring more stress to bear and are often contradictory by the time the next study comes out.
What in the world is going on? Are they running out of things to write? I cannot believe this. It's like saying "Existing increases possibility of dying". Breaking news: We're all going to die someday and nothing anyone does can stop it. Stupid study and can't believe this made news. Stupid.
B.S. If you sit at a desk for a living and go to the gym after work you are going to be far better off than someone who just goes home to sit more.
I have to wonder- should I stand all the time? I am currently not working- should I be doing laps around the house all day? I work out 3 times a week. I did some walking at work. Some weeks I spent all the time at my desk, other weeks I did a lot of walking around.