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This story keeps popping up on HN and elsewhere. And the common solution I've read is "Please, just get a standup desk!" as if standing up and not moving is h
by jalanco 14y ago
This story keeps popping up on HN and elsewhere. And the common solution I've read is "Please, just get a standup desk!" as if standing up and not moving is healthier than sitting and not moving. I've seen no study that supports that conclusion. I think the message should be: moving is healthier than not moving, which is hardly news.
- reasonattlm 14y agoThis study does support that conclusion, which is why it's interesting. The authors explicitly control for physical activity in their analysis, so you have to argue, as I do in another post, why they are doing that wrongly in order to continue to uphold the "it's all activity levels" view.
- noblethrasher 14y agohttp://health.yahoo.net/experts/menshealth/most-dangerous-thing-youll-do-all-day http://health.yahoo.net/experts/menshealth/most-dangerous-th... "British researchers found that (sitting) bus drivers were twice as likely to die of heart attacks as (standing) trolley operators." The idea is that bus drivers and trolley operators are similar in all the other important respects (e.g. socio-economic backgrounds).
- therobotking 14y agoMy father was a bus driver and he had a heart attack in his late 50s. The number of men he worked with who also had heart attacks was staggering. When he visits the hospital for his regular check-ups he always meets other bus drivers. It's really quite alarming.
- stcredzero 14y agoDiesel fumes?
- coldarchon 14y agosry but this is a wrong correlation. this relates to trainers who have a higher chance of a heart attack than players. why? because both get the same amount of adrenaline but the players can work it out with their body. same goes for the bus driver. it's not just the sitting, it's the sitting under stress with no muscles to make use of stress hormones ..
- denysonique 14y agoBritish bus drivers are often overweight.
- crusso 14y agoEven standing still burns 10-50 calories more per hour, depending upon your physiology. That adds up in a full day. Standing up also engages muscles that are important in maintaining good balance and keeping your skeletal structure properly aligned.
- zvrba 14y agoStanding keeps postural musculature (those you use to keep balance upright) active. So even standing still is way more activity than simply sitting where postural muscles just do nothing. I wonder whether "active sitting" [e.g., sitting on a ball, or just sitting correctly (upright, instead of leaning on the back of the chair -- imagine sitting upright on a chair without the back)] has the same negative effect.
- jackalope 14y agoI sit on a yoga ball when I'm at the computer. It's a dramatic improvement over sitting on a stationary object or using a standing desk. The constant need to balance has strengthened my core and the freedom to make the tiniest adjustment means I'm always comfortable and less likely to experience fatigue. Sitting in any kind of chair feels weird now. It's such a different experience, I can't believe it would have a similar negative effect. I wish I had started years earlier, but like any activity, it's important to take regular breaks and include exercise in your lifestyle.
- Rage 14y agoi personnaly think it's a "standup desk" seller conspiracy
- hackinthebochs 14y agoSitting is qualitatively different than standing without moving: http://www.anh-usa.org/too-much-sitting-killing-us/ http://www.anh-usa.org/too-much-sitting-killing-us/