3 ms·

People are sedentary because they are forced by law to drive everywhere.

adversaryIdiot 3y ago
and forced to work 8+ hours a day
ars 3y ago
People drove more 20 or 30 years ago than they do today. So that does not make any sense as being the cause. The actual cause, is of course, the phone.
- vlod 3y ago
  I thought when the Nintendo Wii came out, it had the right idea with all those sports (boxing, tennis etc) games (needed that motion controller) I remember sweating, so I guess it was good. Anything like that anymore?
vlod 3y ago
There's really no reason to take the car for a 15 minute (1 mile walk there, 1 mile back). There's ways to introduce exercise even if you have to drive. At the grocery store, I see drivers drop people right at the entrance. How about go to the furthest parking spot and walk 5 mins. Take steps wherever you see them, usually near escalator or elevator. Take a train to work? Get off a stop before and walk to the next station. Do it in reverse on the way home. Lots of opportunity to be creative.
- ethanbond 3y ago
  You know you're talking about a normal American life (miles?) when you mention drivers dropping people off at grocery stores and walking to/from the train. Where I grew up in Arizona (not rural at all), there was literally nowhere to go within a 15min walk.
  - vlod 3y ago
    > there was literally nowhere to go within a 15min walk. So people don't walk their dogs? You don't always have to have a destination. Parking the furthest from the grocery entrance is surely better than parking right next to entrance?
    - ethanbond 3y ago
      Of course they can and they do. But the point is that across the board, healthy societies are those that don't have to "introduce exercise" to their lives. (Mild) exercise is baked into their lifestyle as a byproduct of how they've organized their social lives and especially their built environments. A public health solution that has "Step 1: Assume people have the time, energy, and discipline to introduce exercise into their daily lives" is not going to work. It really is that simple - that's not how any healthy society works. FWIW I do think you're sharing good advice and it would solve a lot of problems if people listened to it, but the reality is this advice has been around forever. It doesn't actually make a dent where people need it most: default sedentary, car-ridden, non-health conscious parts of the country.
      - vlod 3y ago
        >Step 1: Assume people have the time, energy, and discipline to introduce exercise into their daily lives" is not going to work. It really is that simple - that's not how any healthy society works. I'm struggling to respond to this, probably because you might be right. The cynical view of this, is that you can't help people that don't want to help themselves. i.e. Horse-water, leading. The capitalistic meat grinder will get as much money from them as possible. Inevitably, they will get sick, pay for outrageous priced miracle drugs (like Ozempic) or for other aliments that could be preventable and eventually die. Sigh.
vlod 3y ago
You could also drive to a park and walk around for 45 minutes, or even better run. A dog helps with this.

and forced to work 8+ hours a day

ars 3y ago

People drove more 20 or 30 years ago than they do today. So that does not make any sense as being the cause. The actual cause, is of course, the phone.

vlod 3y ago
I thought when the Nintendo Wii came out, it had the right idea with all those sports (boxing, tennis etc) games (needed that motion controller) I remember sweating, so I guess it was good. Anything like that anymore?

vlod 3y ago

There's really no reason to take the car for a 15 minute (1 mile walk there, 1 mile back). There's ways to introduce exercise even if you have to drive. At the grocery store, I see drivers drop people right at the entrance. How about go to the furthest parking spot and walk 5 mins. Take steps wherever you see them, usually near escalator or elevator. Take a train to work? Get off a stop before and walk to the next station. Do it in reverse on the way home. Lots of opportunity to be creative.

ethanbond 3y ago
You know you're talking about a normal American life (miles?) when you mention drivers dropping people off at grocery stores and walking to/from the train. Where I grew up in Arizona (not rural at all), there was literally nowhere to go within a 15min walk.
- vlod 3y ago
  > there was literally nowhere to go within a 15min walk. So people don't walk their dogs? You don't always have to have a destination. Parking the furthest from the grocery entrance is surely better than parking right next to entrance?
  - ethanbond 3y ago
    Of course they can and they do. But the point is that across the board, healthy societies are those that don't have to "introduce exercise" to their lives. (Mild) exercise is baked into their lifestyle as a byproduct of how they've organized their social lives and especially their built environments. A public health solution that has "Step 1: Assume people have the time, energy, and discipline to introduce exercise into their daily lives" is not going to work. It really is that simple - that's not how any healthy society works. FWIW I do think you're sharing good advice and it would solve a lot of problems if people listened to it, but the reality is this advice has been around forever. It doesn't actually make a dent where people need it most: default sedentary, car-ridden, non-health conscious parts of the country.
    - vlod 3y ago
      >Step 1: Assume people have the time, energy, and discipline to introduce exercise into their daily lives" is not going to work. It really is that simple - that's not how any healthy society works. I'm struggling to respond to this, probably because you might be right. The cynical view of this, is that you can't help people that don't want to help themselves. i.e. Horse-water, leading. The capitalistic meat grinder will get as much money from them as possible. Inevitably, they will get sick, pay for outrageous priced miracle drugs (like Ozempic) or for other aliments that could be preventable and eventually die. Sigh.

vlod 3y ago

You could also drive to a park and walk around for 45 minutes, or even better run. A dog helps with this.