Sitting Will Kill You

SteveJWatson

Had someone criticise the 'irony' of that lifestyle when on a paragliding intro day. The couple explained how 'the outdoors was free' etc.
I was the only one that day to get a decent flight because I could run the fastest and hardest thanks to my training at the gym.

As a tennant farmer, I can assure you that the outdoors costs money.

Pixi_Rex

I will just add it to the list of things I love that will kill me .. like diet soda and fast food.

SmartAlec03211988

Well crap, I guess I'm screwed. Being in a wheelchair and all.

:huh:

LokiOfAsgard

I remember reading somewhere, that taking a five minute walk, every hour that you sit will greatly increase your circulation, and therefore (most likely) your lifespan

capnrus789

I wonder what the parapalegic serviceman would say about this?

thingal12

There's problems with too much standing & too much sitting. The key is to change what you do over the course of the day.

I used to work at a job that required me to stand a lot (mostly 7 hrs a day) and I have spider veins to show for it. My friend, who is a Nurse can show you all the spider veins and now varicose veins she has.

Izzwoz

I hear breathing will kill you too. If you do it for long enough.

Ah, see, this is where you are wrong. It will kill you if you DON'T do it for long enough.

rduhlir

So...then...according to your chart...since I work 12 hour days and am at a desk then I have an 80% higher chance to die? Well..good thing I am in the other 20%.

ATT949

Good topic to bring up.

Yes, sitting will kill you. I've been writing software for a living for a couple of decades. Ten years ago, I spent a month in Alberta, CA working for a friend of mine. I drove from my home in Santa Fe, NM to Edmonton. When I got there, my left foot and ankle were swollen so I propped it up and got on with work.
Two months later, my left calf felt "thick" so I scheduled an appt with a doctor. The morning of the appt. my calf was warm. I had remembered that President Nixon had had DVT and a warm to the touch lower limb was one of the symptoms. Into the ER, into the ultrasound room, and I was the proud owner of a blood clot.
CLose call and all my fault, no question.
Fast forward to today. I'm a lot lighter much more fit and I still sit on my butt everyday but I've learned to take breaks and, silly as it sounds, I wiggle my feet every now and again to ensure that blood doesn't pool in my lower extremities.


Help is on the way, though.

I found this adjustable desk and I've got one on order.

http://www.thehumansolution.com/uplift-900-electric-sit-stand-desk-black.html

That's a great price and it adjusts high enough for someone my height.

If you're sitting on your duff all day long, you should be taking breaks to stress your joints and ligaments. I'm 56 years old now and sat on my butt and didn't exercising for about 25 years. That was a stupid, stupid thing to do.

I know that my single experience is statistically meaningless (the plural of anecdote is not data). However, I've had one close call and, over the decades that I've been learning about "stuff", I've seen enough evidence pile up that it's worth spending about $800. That is a drop in the bucket when you think how long it will last (the desk I'm using now was built in 1994, just to give an idea of office furniture lifespan).

No connection to the company, except that as a satisfied customer for another product (I write software for a company that makes high quality school furniture and they can't match that price.)

dovetail22uk

I'm so dead

Bibianna2012

thanks for this post!

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

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---

100% likely to die.

Science.

Lecterman

Life will kill you too....or so I have heard.

notthatthis

I wonder what the parapalegic serviceman would say about this?

Is that to say that paraplegics are in some way static in their life with no chance of exercise, or just servicemen who are paraplegic don't do anything in the way of exercise? Either way a shameful statement.

LisaMia66

A lot of these posts had me giggling. :laugh:

But back to the discussion of the OP. Would a stability ball help instead of using a desk chair? Does anyone else use one at their job? I'm thinking my husband should get one for his job. Thankfully I work at a group home and have ample opportunity to move around. Unfortunately I don't always take advantage of that opportunity, especially when there's a football game on TV.

geebusuk

I just realised the solution; and actually I've already made use of it.

Sitting will kill you; standing will kill you;
Eternal life, thanks to a KNEELING chair!

(Used one of these to try and help a dodgy lower back when in an office job.)

WinnerVictorious

LisaMia66

I just realised the solution; and actually I've already made use of it.

Sitting will kill you; standing will kill you;
Eternal life, thanks to a KNEELING chair!

(Used one of these to try and help a dodgy lower back when in an office job.)

Did it help?

minakshihall

The only health thing I find scary is MedicalBillingAndCoding.
Specifically the billing part... :P

I almost had a heart attack when I got the bill from a Miami hospital for 5mins of a doctors time to confirm I had chipped a tooth and write me a prescription for pain killers!

I guess we all should be scared of the Medical Billing And Coding. My dad was visitng me here and ran out of his regular prescription. The pharmancy would not honor the prescription my dad had from his Indian doctors so we had to visit a doctor and have the prescription rewritten with the same medicines on it and that piece of paper costed $2,500.00. It almost made my dad visit a heart specialist lol

hotjacki85

I have a desk job.... I dont think sitting makes me lazy and fat.. its my job... what i have to do.... what makes u lazy and fat is eating poorly and not excercising. I excercise at my desk... walk or run on lunches and breaks and work out 5 days a week. Fact of life is some of us will have desk jobs... a lot of us... the question is do u recognize your bodys need for movement and add it into other parts of your day? If not... yes sitting may be killing us... if no, i think we will all be alright.

Miiimii

The only health thing I find scary is MedicalBillingAndCoding.
Specifically the billing part... :P

I almost had a heart attack when I got the bill from a Miami hospital for 5mins of a doctors time to confirm I had chipped a tooth and write me a prescription for pain killers!

I guess we all should be scared of the Medical Billing And Coding. My dad was visitng me here and ran out of his regular prescription. The pharmancy would not honor the prescription my dad had from his Indian doctors so we had to visit a doctor and have the prescription rewritten with the same medicines on it and that piece of paper costed $2,500.00. It almost made my dad visit a heart specialist lol

How does the doctor explain this high costs? It was just a short visit and a rewritten prescription. American doctors must all be very rich. I'm German so I don't have to pay for my medicine bills thanks to health insurance. But last year I asked my insurance for a list with everything they paid for me, so I know a normal visit by the doctor costs around 60€, blood test around 100€ and even the operation I had last somer was only around 800€.
So how could the American doctors ask for so much money. Makes no sense to me.

raeleek

Because American doctors have to go through insurance companies. They will only get a fraction of what they charge so they charge the most they legally can to make some profit.

My mom's close friend is a doctor and my uncle is a dentist and if you pay cash they will charge you close to an 1/8th of what they would bill insurance BECAUSE they don't have the go through the hassle.

When you get a high bill you can contest it and work out a settlement with the provider. They get to write off whatever they don't claim in taxes. I know this to be fact because a few of my family members have done this.

Also, if a doctor has his/her own practice or belong to one they have to pay out insurance every month and it's insanely expensive. Add school bills, cost of continued education, insurance, employing people, keeping the lights on in your building, and doctors aren't taking home as much as you'd think.

bcattoes

Pretty sure sitting along won't kill you

It's what you eat while sitting that will do you in.

Actually, sitting does increase risk by itself. Even if you exercise intensely for an hour in the morning or evening, sitting the rest of the day increases your mortality risk, no matter what you eat.

geebusuk

Actually, sitting does increase risk by itself. Even if you exercise intensely for an hour in the morning or evening, sitting the rest of the day increases your mortality risk, no matter what you eat.

Have you got some explanation for that - backup, ideally with researched studies?

Miiimii

Because American doctors have to go through insurance companies. They will only get a fraction of what they charge so they charge the most they legally can to make some profit.

My mom's close friend is a doctor and my uncle is a dentist and if you pay cash they will charge you close to an 1/8th of what they would bill insurance BECAUSE they don't have the go through the hassle.

When you get a high bill you can contest it and work out a settlement with the provider. They get to write off whatever they don't claim in taxes. I know this to be fact because a few of my family members have done this.

Also, if a doctor has his/her own practice or belong to one they have to pay out insurance every month and it's insanely expensive. Add school bills, cost of continued education, insurance, employing people, keeping the lights on in your building, and doctors aren't taking home as much as you'd think.

Strange system. Who's the big winner at the end?

raeleek

Because American doctors have to go through insurance companies. They will only get a fraction of what they charge so they charge the most they legally can to make some profit.

My mom's close friend is a doctor and my uncle is a dentist and if you pay cash they will charge you close to an 1/8th of what they would bill insurance BECAUSE they don't have the go through the hassle.

When you get a high bill you can contest it and work out a settlement with the provider. They get to write off whatever they don't claim in taxes. I know this to be fact because a few of my family members have done this.

Also, if a doctor has his/her own practice or belong to one they have to pay out insurance every month and it's insanely expensive. Add school bills, cost of continued education, insurance, employing people, keeping the lights on in your building, and doctors aren't taking home as much as you'd think.

Strange system. Who's the big winner at the end?

You're not kidding it's a sad and strange system. Insurance companies pocket a lot of the profit. Where there is money to be made you can be sure someone will take advantage and claim it's fair!

geebusuk

There's been an interesting situation with car insurance in the UK.
Insurers make hardly any money on selling car insurance.
When one of their clients has a non-fault claim, they can make a lot of money selling that claim to a claims company.
The claims company then tries to take the rival insurer for everything they've got - expensive hire cars, doctors consultations, etc.
Of course, as 'everyone is doing it' it puts the price of insurance up a fair bit for the person on the street.

People that have accidents may actually get a bit of a 'win' if they lie a bit.
The claims companies rake it in. And the insurers don't do too badly, while honestly claiming they are selling their policies at 'good value', despite a high price.

raeleek

There's been an interesting situation with car insurance in the UK.
Insurers make hardly any money on selling car insurance.
When one of their clients has a non-fault claim, they can make a lot of money selling that claim to a claims company.
The claims company then tries to take the rival insurer for everything they've got - expensive hire cars, doctors consultations, etc.
Of course, as 'everyone is doing it' it puts the price of insurance up a fair bit for the person on the street.

People that have accidents may actually get a bit of a 'win' if they lie a bit.
The claims companies rake it in. And the insurers don't do too badly, while honestly claiming they are selling their policies at 'good value', despite a high price.

That's awful! Greed and money I'm telling ya! I wonder at what point is telling people what to do (and how much its going to cost them) is it just too much.

Miiimii

Greed will killing all of us at the end.

prudism

Yep sounds right to me
thats how i got fat desk job didnt even realise it was crawling up on me so intent was I on my job
lol now I have all the time in the world to think about it