Posted on 07/23/2010 10:25:43 PM PDT by SmartInsight
Hitting the gym every day might do little to decrease your risk of death if you spend the rest of your time sitting down, a new study suggests.
The results show the time people spend on their derrieres is associated with an increased risk of mortality, regardless of their physical activity level.
Women who reported more than six hours per day of sitting (outside of work) were 37 percent more likely to die during the time period studied than those who sat fewer than three hours a day. Men who sat more than six hours a day (also outside of work) were 18 percent more likely to die than those who sat fewer than three hours per day. The association remained virtually unchanged after adjusting for physical activity level.
Associations were stronger for cardiovascular disease mortality than for cancer mortality.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Also -- this comparison "ouside work", not taking into account work, is ridiculous -- some people have office jobs, where they sit all day, other people do physical work all day.
I personally think this is a flawed study and the results are meaningless.
Another article:
Idling Toward Death: Sitting Linked to Dying Early
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/sitting-linked-early-death/story?id=11234721
“The findings were independent of physical activity levels, body mass index, smoking and several other factors contributing to mortality risk. “
I guess I could build a standing desk, but then I’d probably die of sore feet.
Oh well, everyone has to die of something, eventually...
I don’t exercise for longevity. I exercise in order to be strong and healthy enough to enjoy whatever scope of life is granted me.
Jim Fixx...my work is done here.
They should stick to reporting about Miley Ray Cyrus and Lidsay Lohan - that is more their area of expertise.
My ultimate dream ... to die sitting in front of my computer. As much time as I spend in this chair, my dream has a good chance of happening.
Extended sitting carries its own risks, in extreme cases resulting in embolisms. I wonder if periodic freeping breaks are benefic
You're correct in thinking such.
The article is such a steaming heap of horses**t that it's not worth taking the time to refute it.
Whether I die tomorrow or in 40 years, I feel much better when I get some exercise and spend time outside. ...and I have to figure that losing 25lbs from the exercise and diet has made SOME difference.
At least I’ll die healthy and won’t require a forklift to get my body out of the house.
It does seem hard to believe that a sedentary pursuit would so completely negate the effect of periodic exercise. Otherwise we’d have schoolchildren dying off in droves.
Time is killing us all ... just look at those guys!
Except for workouts, I try to spend as much time as possible lying down.
Imagine the back problems you’d have it you were standing most of every day. Especially if you are over 30.
To 5 - Witty post, though he was an anomaly.
We were created to be gardeners. ;)
It sounds like the occupation media mouthpiece is pushing pol pot style shovel ready jobs.
Another study concluded that 96% of dead people end up laying down
Yeah, he ran more than Forest Gump and died in his forties. He was a vegetarian too if I remember correctly. When they opened him up, they said his arteries were as clear as a newborn's.
Well you may not think this study is valid, but I’m taking it quite seriously. From now on, I’m going to give up sitting so much, and start lying down more.
So sleeping eight hours must be really bad for you. Soon there will be a crusade to eliminate sleep. Instead of sleep, people will be forced on tread mills that generate electricity. Government auditors will monitor each household on production numbers. If one fails to make quota, an agent will take the offending person before a Death Panel.
With that thought, I am going to bed.
Happy dreams everyone!
Actually, you’d probably have fewer, as you would tend to build musculature that would help support the back.
I'm with you. I exercise because I feel better all around when I do. It stimulates not only the muscles but the mind as well.
It amazes how many FReepers scoff at exercise. There is only one major conservative in the media who regularly scoffs at exercise - Rush Limbaugh. I am guessing that too many FReepers succumb to his ridicule of exercise.
That said, most liberals hate conservatives who exercise and maintain their health. They see that as a threat, are afraid we healthy conservatives will live longer than them and don't believe we have a right to be healthy.
*
I don’t believe in evolution, but I always thought that if I did, it would be evolutionarily correct to say we DON’T need to be buff, and that like Star Trek, we would evolve until we are blobby bodies with gigantic brains.
I do about half of each.
You have a job where you sit a lot? Plan on getting taxed.
You think cigarettes are expensive? Put that twinkie down or it'll cost you an extra two bucks for each one.
And no eating potato chips in front of the kids. That'll be a fifty dollar fine and court ordered visits from health and human services to be sure you're staying in line.
Fixx had coronary heart disease which he inherited and he really didn’t do anything to mitigate that. Genetics were against him from the start.
Or as Joycelyn Elders so eloquently—and mysteriously—put it, “..we all will probably die with something sooner or later.”
Fixx strove to lower his heart rate. He did...to zero.
I have a friend who has the same thing. Dad died really young too.
I'm always amused when I hear being sedentary is acceptable behavior from a health point of view.
Walking is better than sitting, running is better than walking if possible to do.
Sure sounds flawed to me, it would imply that a mailman who walks his route everyday needs to be on his feet after working hours just as much as someone who sits behind a desk all day. That is ridiculous!
It would also imply that most truck drivers should die within a few years, most of them spend their time either sitting behind the wheel, sitting and waiting for their truck to be loaded or unloaded or some other kind of sitting.
Whenever I feel the urge to exercise, I lie down until the feeling goes away - author unknown
Check out Jim Fixx background and you will probably decide he would have died even earlier had he not been a runner. As it is he outlived his father by nine years before dying of the same hereditary heart problem. The fact that he ran a lot and also died young in no way proves that running CAUSED his early death. In all probability it gave him a little more time than he would otherwise have had and at the least gave him mobility and energy in his last years when he otherwise was headed toward being a blob before taking up running.
Standing in one spot is awful, I can’t do it for more than a few short minutes, walking at even the slowest speed or just shifting around a little is much better than just standing still. Standing still can cause a person to lose consciousness if they stand still enough. Ask anyone who has been in the military and had to stand in his tracks for long periods.
I hate these ‘studies’ — typing data into a spreadsheet is not the same as studying something. My first thought is that sick people spend more time sitting than healthy people. I also strongly believe that sick people are more likely to die earlier than well people. I think, too, that most people in bars spend leisure time sitting — and breathing in second hand smoke, and occasionally being involved in a brawl — all bad for one’s health.
A great way to trim fraud, waste, and abuse in government would be to eliminate funding of these silly studies.
I believe some people are pre-programed to die early. I have known two people I work with who were active and both died of massive heart attacks while young. One in his 40s and one in his 50s. Their kin also died young.
My grandparents died in their late 80s but my dad died when he reached...”Threescore and ten.”
So, I don’t believe there is a so-called “life extention routine” to allow people to get to real old age.
Regarding Mr. Fixx’s arteries:
Despite having cholesterol levels above 250, Fixx demurred for reasons we can only guess at. In the several months before his death, Fixx ignored what hindsight reveals were the warning signs of advanced coronary artery disease. An autopsy revealed blockage in Fixx’s three main arteries of 95 percent, 85 percent and 50 percent.
Source: www.halhigdon.com
I guess I’m doubly screwed even though I exercise a lot—not only do I sit on my ass all day reading Free Republic, I do all my exercise while sitting down (I bicycle ten miles a day).
“Actually, you’d probably have fewer, as you would tend to build musculature that would help support the back.”
Yes, maybe if I worked up to it slowly.
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