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Fitness

Is Sitting Down Killing You?

No matter how much you exercise, if you sit down too much, you are in for a disability. Or are you?

Live Long And Prosper…

So far I thought that exercising five times per week made pretty sure that I, barring a determined bus moving in my way, will live to 90 able to go parachuting and kayaking, should I ever feel so inclined.

I don’t feel a terrible urge to throw myself from planes at really high heights, but it would be nice if I could, if I wanted to.

…Just Don’t Sit Down

Not so fast, say researchers from Chicago’s Feinberg School of Medicine, after they took 2,300 adults aged 60 or older and had them wear a pedometer for at least four days.

Analyzing the data, they found that on average, people spent nine hours per day sitting down. Also that every sedentary hour on top of those nine increases your chances of getting a disability (like not being able to eat, bath or get out of bed without help) by almost 50%.

That wouldn’t be sensational. The more inactive people are, the more likely they are to pay a price, right? But the findings held even after the researchers took into account how much exercise people engaged in. Being sedentary, they say, will lead to problems “independent of time spent in moderate or vigorous activity.”

Cause Vs. Effect

News outlets up and down the internet report this study, but there are two problems with it I don’t see mentioned.

The first is that the study never looked at causality – what is cause and what is effect – and just recorded the current condition and living circumstances of the person.  So yes, people with a disability spend more time sitting, but did they become disabled because of it? Or do they sit around so much because they are disabled?

It puts further creases on my forehead when looking at the “by almost 50%” part. It’s a phrase I’m familiar with from marketing speak. If you run a business and last month made a profit of $1, you’d have increased profits by 100% if you made two dollars this month.

Let’s translate that to this study: according to its data, of the 2,300 participants, 3% suffered from a disability.  If we assume that these people and the 3% are representative of  the population average, then your chances of getting a disability when sitting down nine hours is 3% and with an extra hour on top it’s 6%.

But saying that you are 94% unlikely to get a disability despite sitting for ten hours sounds much less newsworthy than “almost doubles your chance of being disabled.”

I’m Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

No doubt about it that being sedentary too much doesn’t help you staying fit. But disregarding any positive effect of physical activity? That’s a tall order. I’d love to see the Feinberg guys explain that. I’m sure they didn’t mean to say “forget physical activity, just don’t sit down.”

Picture courtesy of Don DeBold.

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Latest Comments

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6 Comments

  1. Kim says:
    February 20, 2014 at 9:49 pm

    Not because of any research (or lack there-of!), I decided that I need to quit sitting so much. I got a standing work station for my laptop and LOVE it!! And, now that I’m wearing a FitBit, I usually walk around or even jog in place when I’m on the computer!!!

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      February 24, 2014 at 3:54 pm

      Yeah, I saw the pics on your side! 🙂 Personally I don’t really get along with standing desks. I tried it, but found that my concentration is really off.

      Reply
  2. Dimitri says:
    February 21, 2014 at 3:29 am

    Great article Evil! If only more people would take this advice to heart and implement some more exercise/movement in their daily routines.
    I learnt the hard way that sitting down too much will cause health problems. Good thing I got over my rut and started exercising and being way more active again 😀

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      February 24, 2014 at 3:53 pm

      And you are doing great! 🙂

      Reply
  3. CindyB says:
    February 21, 2014 at 9:38 pm

    I don’t know what to think. This study went through our office like wildfire because most of use sit at computers all day and are required to maintain a particular look for customers. There is no getting up every 20 minutes or even every 2 hours. I don’t see my company being front of the line to allow standing terminals so we are looking at 8 hours of sitting broken up by 3 breaks. I would like to hope that the exercise I do is helping substantially!!!!

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      February 24, 2014 at 3:54 pm

      And I wager that indeed it does!

      Reply

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