Sitting Deemed Dangerous for Your Health: What's Next?
I'm guessing there are a lot of occupations that are dangerous -- professional sports, vocations involving heavy machinery, toxic chemicals, grueling labor conditions, precarious heights. I know there are some jobs I simply could never do -- repairing bridges, laying asphalt, wrestling ferocious animals to the ground .. and there's probably a few others.
But I always thought that my job as a writer, which involves sitting in front of a computer all day, was a pretty good gig when compared to so many other people -- the folks picking crops in pesticide dusted fields with little water and poor sanitation probably about 100 or so miles from my home, for starters.
Sure, I get some neck and back pain, but not to worry right? Well, apparently not. Now the AP is reporting about a new study that concludes that sitting, yep, just sitting, is deadly.
Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods -- even if you also exercise regularly -- could be bad for your health. And it doesn't matter where the sitting takes place -- at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV -- just the overall number of hours it occurs.
Research is preliminary, but several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die.
(Wait, aren't we all pretty likely to die?)
And apparently it doesn't matter if you run 10 miles every day before work, if you sit all day you're pretty much screwed.
So what's an office worker to do? The article suggests:
