10 ms·

I am not going to disagree with the article or dispute that sitting all day is not as healthy as occasionally moving around, but does anyone else feel like this

I am not going to disagree with the article or dispute that sitting all day is not as healthy as occasionally moving around, but does anyone else feel like this is the latest "health scare" meme? It reminds me of how leg embolisms on long flights were the focus of attention a few years ago. (i.e. completely absent from the news at first, then an overabundance of stories once a single scientific study is published.)

de90 16y ago
No doubt it is. I think it's just a problem with us understanding more. There is always going to be, taking to much of something, too little of something else, doing to much of x, doing to little of x. Things that are good for us are bad in large amounts (vitamins), and things that are bad can be used for 'good' (botox). Find what works for you, and makes you feel how you want, and stick with it. There will never be better advice since everyone is different. But where is the scare in that? :)
- lpolovets 16y ago
  I think the scare is the explicit statement that exercising is not enough. If that is the case, then I will make adjustments to my work/sitting habits; if it's not the case, I'm pretty happy with my current status quo of sitting most of the day and then doing a challenging workout at night. However, all of these recent sitting news articles seem to be based on the same study. Perhaps the study is flawless, or perhaps the data collection was flawed, or the results can't be replicated, or something else went wrong. In that case, the news stories are prematurely trying to worry people into being into sitting less. I think being active is awesome, but it should be something you do because you enjoy it, or because you have weighed the pros and cons and decided it's worthwhile; it should not be something you do because you were misled about the the health risks.
- joahua 16y ago
  Particular reason for scarequotes around 'good' re: botox? Cosmetic surgery connotations aside, botox is used for (quite effective) treatment of cerebal palsy / muscle spasticity.
maxxxxx 16y ago
It's definitely a real issue. I have been working at a desk since my 20s. Now in my 40s my legs go numb after sitting for a half an hour. The problem goes away when I am on vacation for a few weeks. I bet a lot of health issues would go away if people could spend less time sitting.
- deltaqueue 16y ago
  Do you have proper posture and a chair suitable for your stature? I'm sure the answer is yes, but a chair with a base too deep or too shallow could easily cause numb legs over an extended period of time.
  - maxxxxx 16y ago
    I have tried different chairs and postures without success. I teach yoga classes a few times a week and I see a lot of people (age 40+) showing similar symptoms: numb legs and arms, lower back pain. I believe an additional problem is that if you sit the whole day the muscles at the front side of your body get too short and the back side too long. So when you finally exercise this imbalance may cause even more problems.
    - jongraehl 16y ago
      You've wrongly simplified. The knees and hips bend in opposite ways when you sit. Sitting will not stretch the hamstrings, which are on the back of your body. It will stretch the quads, which are at the front.
- mgcross 16y ago
  Same with me. 41 and never had a problem sitting until about a month ago. Left leg goes numb and/or hurts. I do pretty intense strength training at lunch 4 days a week, but it's not enough. I now have to get up and walk more during the day or even alternate between standing at my desk and kneeling.
  - maxxxxx 16y ago
jsz0 16y ago
It sure seems that way. Sitting isn't a new fad. People have been doing it for many years. Even if you want to look at the last few decades as increasing our sit time dramatically it still doesn't jive with reality. Death from heart disease and stroke care actually down in the US sharply in the last decade.
- maxxxxx 16y ago
  I think sitting pretty much the whole day is a very new thing. I don't think many people did that before computers.
  - esoteriq 16y ago
    Also, we sit in many more contexts: driving, work, watching TV, eating dinner, etc. That being said, I'm a bit overwhelmed nowadays with all of the health scares. Sometimtes I feel like whatever I do, I'm killing myself. So I just give up and live my life. I'm going to die one way or another, right? (Not exactly good philosophy.)
SomeCallMeTim 16y ago
I see "health scare meme" as a potentially dangerous meme in and of itself. YES, the media can exaggerate the result of a single study and people will overreact to it (see: "margarine is healthier than butter," then more recently the reverse). In this particular study, the results may not be conclusive enough to act on; that aside, there ARE other health studies that have been successfully repeated (for example, the negative effects of hydrogenated oils/trans fats) that are also frequently dismissed by a media-weary public as yet another "health scare meme". The "trans fats are bad" idea is finally going mainstream, but IMO it took years longer than it should have because of the media's tendency to jump at the first study showing a surprising result, and thus inuring the public to "bad health news," which a majority of people then proceed to ignore (and a minority jump onto the latest bandwagon). In the case of standing vs. sitting, I saw this study months ago, and at the same time I started feeling uncomfortable sitting for long periods, and the combination caused me to build a standing desk. I'm now standing most days, and for me it's a great improvement -- YMMV, and not saying it proves anything but possibly that my circulation wasn't so great. Regardless, I'm on this particular bandwagon, and it improves my QoL, so I'm staying, regardless of the scorn people may have for health fads. ;)
- ellyagg 16y ago
  No way. Health scare memes are absolutely dangerous and almost certainly the reason for the most pernicious and widespread health problems in the US. The media always need a new villain. If it were settled that an obvious component of our diet were the culprit for most of our problems, much of the drama and conflict would be drained from one of their favorite story lines. Your example of trans fats is a good one. Trans fats are bad relative to other fats, but nowhere near as sickening as sugar and corn syrup. Unfortunately, reporting on the evils of trans fats is in its shiny glamorous stage, so we are bombarded with stories about it, which creates a skewed perspective on what matters to our dietary health. Today's health crises, which exploded around 1980, can be traced back to the media trumpeting the twin (false) claims that dietary fat is evil and that corn syrup is a healthful alternative to sugar. Given the power of the media, this predictably resulted in an explosion of corn syrup uptake and consequently an explosion in obesity, diabetes, and probably cancer. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.htm...
omfut 16y ago
I agree with the article. I have been working out for years and still got back problems. Was diagnosed with mild herniated disk. Reason- Bad posture and sitting for long hours. Also the chair that we use to sit plays a big role.
samtp 16y ago
This isn't a fad. I work with Dr. Blair at USC and he has been researching physical activity effects on health for the past 20 years. He is one of the leading exercise science researchers with over 2000 citations per year.
- lutorm 16y ago
  Since it hasn't been a topic in the press for those 20 years, I think that actually supports the idea that this is a fad. Fads are mostly disconnected from the slow progression of science. (I don't mean that makes it wrong, of course.)

de90 16y ago

No doubt it is. I think it's just a problem with us understanding more. There is always going to be, taking to much of something, too little of something else, doing to much of x, doing to little of x. Things that are good for us are bad in large amounts (vitamins), and things that are bad can be used for 'good' (botox). Find what works for you, and makes you feel how you want, and stick with it. There will never be better advice since everyone is different. But where is the scare in that? :)

lpolovets 16y ago
I think the scare is the explicit statement that exercising is not enough. If that is the case, then I will make adjustments to my work/sitting habits; if it's not the case, I'm pretty happy with my current status quo of sitting most of the day and then doing a challenging workout at night. However, all of these recent sitting news articles seem to be based on the same study. Perhaps the study is flawless, or perhaps the data collection was flawed, or the results can't be replicated, or something else went wrong. In that case, the news stories are prematurely trying to worry people into being into sitting less. I think being active is awesome, but it should be something you do because you enjoy it, or because you have weighed the pros and cons and decided it's worthwhile; it should not be something you do because you were misled about the the health risks.
joahua 16y ago
Particular reason for scarequotes around 'good' re: botox? Cosmetic surgery connotations aside, botox is used for (quite effective) treatment of cerebal palsy / muscle spasticity.

maxxxxx 16y ago

It's definitely a real issue. I have been working at a desk since my 20s. Now in my 40s my legs go numb after sitting for a half an hour. The problem goes away when I am on vacation for a few weeks. I bet a lot of health issues would go away if people could spend less time sitting.

deltaqueue 16y ago
Do you have proper posture and a chair suitable for your stature? I'm sure the answer is yes, but a chair with a base too deep or too shallow could easily cause numb legs over an extended period of time.
- maxxxxx 16y ago
  I have tried different chairs and postures without success. I teach yoga classes a few times a week and I see a lot of people (age 40+) showing similar symptoms: numb legs and arms, lower back pain. I believe an additional problem is that if you sit the whole day the muscles at the front side of your body get too short and the back side too long. So when you finally exercise this imbalance may cause even more problems.
  - jongraehl 16y ago
    You've wrongly simplified. The knees and hips bend in opposite ways when you sit. Sitting will not stretch the hamstrings, which are on the back of your body. It will stretch the quads, which are at the front.
mgcross 16y ago
Same with me. 41 and never had a problem sitting until about a month ago. Left leg goes numb and/or hurts. I do pretty intense strength training at lunch 4 days a week, but it's not enough. I now have to get up and walk more during the day or even alternate between standing at my desk and kneeling.
- maxxxxx 16y ago

jsz0 16y ago

It sure seems that way. Sitting isn't a new fad. People have been doing it for many years. Even if you want to look at the last few decades as increasing our sit time dramatically it still doesn't jive with reality. Death from heart disease and stroke care actually down in the US sharply in the last decade.

maxxxxx 16y ago
I think sitting pretty much the whole day is a very new thing. I don't think many people did that before computers.
- esoteriq 16y ago
  Also, we sit in many more contexts: driving, work, watching TV, eating dinner, etc. That being said, I'm a bit overwhelmed nowadays with all of the health scares. Sometimtes I feel like whatever I do, I'm killing myself. So I just give up and live my life. I'm going to die one way or another, right? (Not exactly good philosophy.)

SomeCallMeTim 16y ago

I see "health scare meme" as a potentially dangerous meme in and of itself. YES, the media can exaggerate the result of a single study and people will overreact to it (see: "margarine is healthier than butter," then more recently the reverse). In this particular study, the results may not be conclusive enough to act on; that aside, there ARE other health studies that have been successfully repeated (for example, the negative effects of hydrogenated oils/trans fats) that are also frequently dismissed by a media-weary public as yet another "health scare meme". The "trans fats are bad" idea is finally going mainstream, but IMO it took years longer than it should have because of the media's tendency to jump at the first study showing a surprising result, and thus inuring the public to "bad health news," which a majority of people then proceed to ignore (and a minority jump onto the latest bandwagon). In the case of standing vs. sitting, I saw this study months ago, and at the same time I started feeling uncomfortable sitting for long periods, and the combination caused me to build a standing desk. I'm now standing most days, and for me it's a great improvement -- YMMV, and not saying it proves anything but possibly that my circulation wasn't so great. Regardless, I'm on this particular bandwagon, and it improves my QoL, so I'm staying, regardless of the scorn people may have for health fads. ;)

ellyagg 16y ago
No way. Health scare memes are absolutely dangerous and almost certainly the reason for the most pernicious and widespread health problems in the US. The media always need a new villain. If it were settled that an obvious component of our diet were the culprit for most of our problems, much of the drama and conflict would be drained from one of their favorite story lines. Your example of trans fats is a good one. Trans fats are bad relative to other fats, but nowhere near as sickening as sugar and corn syrup. Unfortunately, reporting on the evils of trans fats is in its shiny glamorous stage, so we are bombarded with stories about it, which creates a skewed perspective on what matters to our dietary health. Today's health crises, which exploded around 1980, can be traced back to the media trumpeting the twin (false) claims that dietary fat is evil and that corn syrup is a healthful alternative to sugar. Given the power of the media, this predictably resulted in an explosion of corn syrup uptake and consequently an explosion in obesity, diabetes, and probably cancer. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.htm...

omfut 16y ago

I agree with the article. I have been working out for years and still got back problems. Was diagnosed with mild herniated disk. Reason- Bad posture and sitting for long hours. Also the chair that we use to sit plays a big role.

samtp 16y ago

This isn't a fad. I work with Dr. Blair at USC and he has been researching physical activity effects on health for the past 20 years. He is one of the leading exercise science researchers with over 2000 citations per year.

lutorm 16y ago
Since it hasn't been a topic in the press for those 20 years, I think that actually supports the idea that this is a fad. Fads are mostly disconnected from the slow progression of science. (I don't mean that makes it wrong, of course.)