[LINK] Sitting comfortably? How sitting is affecting our health

[Jim Birch]

Marghanita da Cruz wrote:

> A growing body of evidence is pointing to the health risks associated
> with sedentary behaviours, and in particular risks associated with
> prolonged periods of sitting, independent of other physical activities.
>

While the benefits of exercise are well-established it is possible that the
case against sitting may be oversimplified and the biology may be more
causally complex.  The evidence against sitting is largely based on
observation rather than intervention studies.  However, people who tend to
have lower physical health and lower metabolic rates will tend to end up in
sitting jobs and will also tend to die earlier.

See, eg:

 "Are people dying early because they sit too long, or are they sitting so
long because they'll die earlier?"
http://drlutz.blogspot.de/2012/07/how-media-monkeys-get-you-panicked.html

Disclaimer: I try to avoid sitting for long periods.  I run a background
application "Eyeleo" (in Windows) that tells me to take 8 second eye breaks
every 15 minutes and 3 minute get-up-and-move breaks every hour.  It greys
the screen during the long breaks and even has a no skip option is
available for the recalcitrant.  I try to take the lift to the ground floor
and walk up the five floors back to my desk job on four of the long breaks
each day.  While the the sitting effect may be overstated, lots of good
intervention studies indicate a strong link between improved fitness with
improved health.  Some current research efforts are finding that short
bursts of intense exercise improves physiological markers as much several
times longer gentle exercise. So hit it!

Jim