Terrifying Infographic on the Health Dangers of Sitting

What about lying down?

What about lying down?

When is evolution gonna catch up :D

Nice. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which means I pay a heavy price in pain and symptom flares when I try to exercise. Add to that my low blood pressure conditiion (neurally-mediated hypotension) that makes it almost impossible to stand longer than a few minutes without a disastrous crash in pulse and blood pressure. Sitting is going to cut my life shorter? Perfect, ’cause this ain’t livin’.

You mean like lying in bed? Just like Bryan Wilson did?

Wasn’t it carbs that were the last demonized evil-of-the-day(tm)? And white sugar before that? And something about eating vinegar-soaked raisins before that one? And not taking your daily dose of snake oil?

wonderful news. there is nothing a person can do to not shorten their lifespan. I will choose not to smoke crack or play in traffic, and eat my veggie and exercise daily instead.

Isn’t it just possible the data is–erm–incidental?

I.e. if one is a “sitter” one is prone to various other sloth-like behaviors?

Or am I the one qualifier in the rooms of quantifiers?

When it’s actually beneficial. Evolution means that the alleles that convey the highest fitness will stay in the gene pool. First, however, there needs to be a mutation. A mutant needs to be born that will have a healthier heart sitting down than standing or moving. As this mutation would likely be disastrous for most of the time a person is not sitting, which is really the most enjoyable time of one’s life, it is unlikely such an allele, were it to occur, would persist.

I know you asked that question in jest, but I highly doubt you are the only person wondering that. I really think we should be working with evolution instead of against it.

Carbs were demonized by people who didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. It’s all about identifying the source, Talesin. Think critically and you shouldn’t have a problem separating the wheat from the chaff.

No, you’re not alone. You raise a good point – I thought about that with the television thing. However, the work issue really can’t be avoided – even if you love to work out on the weekends, if you have a sitting job then you’re at risk for these factors, which is something we may not be able to help. Or, as others may do, you may sacrifice your work aspirations for comfort aspirations (i.e. choosing to give up a career that would stimulate you mentally for one that works your physically or vice versa…neither is a good solution). If managers are aware of this they could….

….well, ignore it like all the other data that shows how managers are contributing to the emotional and physical stress of their employees….

I feel for you suffering so much with chronic fatigue. But don’t accept that condition as permanent! Honestly, there are solutions out there, but certainly not in mainstream medicine. Educate yourself with natural holistic healing modalities, including the various energy medicine techniques. Read http://www.naturalnews.com as a start, and click the Radio link to listen to the Robert Scott Bell daily show. Other good sources of truthful and sound yet amazing health info is at http://www.jonbarron.org (audios, articles, free book), http://www.gordonresearch.com (Dr. Garry Gordon has been called one of the most brilliant medical minds of our times; click the Presentations link), and http://www.enrichinggifts.com (call into Nobel-prize nominated enzyme expert Ron Schneider’s free telecons and ask your questions). Basically, I believe that once you effectively detox your colon, liver, and blood, and nourish yourself with phytonutrients and minerals via tons of organic produce (see http://www.rawfamily.com or http://www.greensmoothiechallenge.com) to help balance your hormones, you will find yourself a long way toward the road to good health. Have faith; you can be well!

Or our bodies were made a certain way and will stay that way, so trying to go against it is not going to do anything but kills us. We aren’t going to “evolve” to adapt to our new desk jobs.

LOL thanks a lot. Actually, I started out using natural treatments: I was an intern at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine when I first became disabled, and underwent dozens of different acupuncture, herbal, massage, and manipulation treatments, at my school (at the hands of my learned Chinese instructors) and with LMTs and chiropractors. Then I went to live with a naturopath/acupuncturist friend of mine (who was the President of the naturopathic board here at the time, she is an outstanding practitioner) to wait for my SSDI to come through. I underwent over a dozen different avenues of treatment over the 16 months I lived with her, as well. She checked my hair, checked my blood, checked my enzymes, checked my allergies and food intolerances, detoxed liver, gall bladder, colon and skin, and did some other things I’m probably forgetting. Nothing worked.

Chronic fatigue and NMH are not the only conditions contributing to my disability. Scratch the surface of any ailment, and you will find individuals with a unique genetic, emotional, and environmental factors profile. If there is anything I have learned from my dozen years activity on various Internet support communities, it is that no one treatment works for every individual with that condition.

I’ve also tried every pharma drug available to treat my conditions. My rheumatologist (an outstanding practitioner) at the Fibro Clinic at Oregon Health Sciences University has been very thorough. We both despair that I can’t tolerate any of the medicine that makes such a big difference in the quality of life for others with my conditions.

Strangely enough, the one drug that seems to help is low-dose
naltrexone; it keeps the really deep, painful muscle spasms in check.
Thanks to LDN, I can walk upright. It has few side effects beside the need for me to stay away from sugar and caffeine (and by extension, chocolate); it’s also very cheap.

By the way, I was paying big money for these “natural holistic healing modalities” (even when I had a discount.) I have literally spent thousands of dollars pursuing natural treatments. The “cures” are never cheap, and
always require years of commitment, or else “you can’t be sure they
would’ve worked.” Funny how none of these miracles are cheap or easy to
come by.

I realize you meant well in giving me your advice. Please understand why I won’t take it, and why I won’t waste further time or money pursuing treatments that just won’t work for me. If something has real promise, I will hear about it from my rheumatologist, or it will be all over the support communities as a “you must try this” thing. Until then, I’m treating all that crap as well-meaning, egotistical, and/or greedy doctors who found something that works for one or two or ten (rich) patients, who want to make their “discovery” the blanket “miracle” that cures us all. $$$. Quack, quack.

So what’s really causing the childhood obesity epidemic isn’t high-calorie junk food, it’s sitting down so much in public school. What a bunch of rot.

Thanks K, I’ve been wondering about this very subject for too long:-)

Also we better hope that one “mutant” isn’t killed in a drive by or hit by a bus before it can reproduce or else we are back to square one and dying at our desks.

Also we better hope that one “mutant” isn’t killed in a drive by or hit by a bus before it can reproduce or else we are back to square one and dying at our desks.

And carbs are glorified by people who do not understand the link between Big Pharma, Big Farming and the development over time of cheap, yet high-profit food sources.

Moderation is the cure to your brand of “critical thinking”.

Nope, its still feeding lazy teenies fructose and other carb-laden diets in improper balance to the required % of protein, fats and veggies.

Lower carb as % of total diet = health ; carbs make the body make fat; carb-overload (from traditional levels) = unhealthy situation.

This article freaked me out. I guess I’m gonna have to start stretching every fifteen minutes at my desk…

 This was my general response, too. I have hypotonia, which means that standing for long periods of time is torturous.

 I’m on a medical diet for seizures that is 2.5 parts fat to 1 part total carb and protein. I burned through 13 medications, an implant, and having my right temporal lobe removed, when what I really needed to do was kill the sugar from my world. Ketogenic diets were a common treatment at the beginning of the 20th century, and yet it went out of favor about the time the big medications came out. It is being rediscovered now, I wish I had been put on it at age 2 instead of age 30.

I’ve heard of a simple solution that employers actually COULD do.  They now make “standing” desks.  Basically they are desks that are raised so you stand at them rather than sit.  It’s brilliant, really.  Then, when you take a break, sitting during this time would be a welcome event.  Just a thought.  I saw it in a Men’s Health article.