3 ms·

A lot of people went really sedentary during the pandemic. This is reflected in other data as well and could likely explain the uptick in heart disease: it isn

by svnt 4y ago

A lot of people went really sedentary during the pandemic. This is reflected in other data as well and could likely explain the uptick in heart disease: it isn’t the development of the disease that needed to go from 0 to 1, but the transition to symptomatic expression across a population that essentially moved a big clump of already-diseased but asymptomatic people forward at once.

celdon25 4y ago
Two additional factors: - Much higher stress from making ends meet, world events, national decline, etc. - Supply chain issues leading to lower quality chemical byproducts in your food and household items. Though we don’t know how much of a problem this is and we may not for a long time, if ever.
- svnt 4y ago
  Good points.
Steltek 4y ago
I wonder about your sedentary comment. You said during the pandemic, when we were encouraged to stay home, but what about after? At first it feels true because a lot of people WFH now. But before Covid, most people drove to work, which isn't really any better than WFH and it's arguably worse due to the stress of driving. Covid also strongly encouraged outdoor activities over indoor ones. In my area, many indoor events were converted to outdoor events and we found that even with the relaxation of precautions, people prefer we keep them outdoors as it was more enjoyable. I suppose my experience doesn't match up with people who live in more disagreeable climates, like the South or Southwest.
- svnt 4y ago
  Yeah it’s a complex shift but all the indicators I’ve seen at a population level show upticks in markers associated with increased sedentary behaviors. Some people definitely went the other way and took up more healthful activities but the dominant shift seems to have been toward less physical activity. I personally wonder if the “long covid cognitive effects” aren’t down to things like less exercise, more social isolation and too much screen time, especially as people keep looking for explanations for effects on children. It’s not like it all went away when the pandemic officially ended either. People can be slow to change.
  - warner25 4y ago
    I remember reading years ago that the average American adult puts on 3 lbs during the holiday season and then never recovers by dropping that excess weight, so it just accumulates every year. For the people whose fitness routines and health were negatively impacted by COVID (e.g. people who had young children at home, in my experience, and people who got really sick), I think we might be seeing a similar effect. You can't get back lost time even after life "returns to normal."
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- AnimalMuppet 4y ago
  It's easy to go from non-sedentary to sedentary. It's harder to go back. So some didn't go back - they remained sedentary after Covid concern faded. I don't know what fraction of the population went sedentary, and what fraction of those remained sedentary. It could be enough to matter statistically.
mannykannot 4y ago
As far as I know, while a sedentary lifestyle leads to or exacerbates the physical deterioration which leads to death by heart disease, I do not think slowing down brings it on, at least within a couple of years. For people at high risk, unaccustomed exercise is recognized as a trigger of acute disease (with snow-shoveling being a well-known example.)

by svnt 4y ago

celdon25 4y ago

Two additional factors: - Much higher stress from making ends meet, world events, national decline, etc. - Supply chain issues leading to lower quality chemical byproducts in your food and household items. Though we don’t know how much of a problem this is and we may not for a long time, if ever.

svnt 4y ago
Good points.

Steltek 4y ago

I wonder about your sedentary comment. You said during the pandemic, when we were encouraged to stay home, but what about after? At first it feels true because a lot of people WFH now. But before Covid, most people drove to work, which isn't really any better than WFH and it's arguably worse due to the stress of driving. Covid also strongly encouraged outdoor activities over indoor ones. In my area, many indoor events were converted to outdoor events and we found that even with the relaxation of precautions, people prefer we keep them outdoors as it was more enjoyable. I suppose my experience doesn't match up with people who live in more disagreeable climates, like the South or Southwest.

svnt 4y ago
Yeah it’s a complex shift but all the indicators I’ve seen at a population level show upticks in markers associated with increased sedentary behaviors. Some people definitely went the other way and took up more healthful activities but the dominant shift seems to have been toward less physical activity. I personally wonder if the “long covid cognitive effects” aren’t down to things like less exercise, more social isolation and too much screen time, especially as people keep looking for explanations for effects on children. It’s not like it all went away when the pandemic officially ended either. People can be slow to change.
- warner25 4y ago
  I remember reading years ago that the average American adult puts on 3 lbs during the holiday season and then never recovers by dropping that excess weight, so it just accumulates every year. For the people whose fitness routines and health were negatively impacted by COVID (e.g. people who had young children at home, in my experience, and people who got really sick), I think we might be seeing a similar effect. You can't get back lost time even after life "returns to normal."
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
AnimalMuppet 4y ago
It's easy to go from non-sedentary to sedentary. It's harder to go back. So some didn't go back - they remained sedentary after Covid concern faded. I don't know what fraction of the population went sedentary, and what fraction of those remained sedentary. It could be enough to matter statistically.

mannykannot 4y ago

As far as I know, while a sedentary lifestyle leads to or exacerbates the physical deterioration which leads to death by heart disease, I do not think slowing down brings it on, at least within a couple of years. For people at high risk, unaccustomed exercise is recognized as a trigger of acute disease (with snow-shoveling being a well-known example.)