NYT: Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?

I had been planning on making a standing desk for some time now, but the thing that really got me off my butt was this article in the New York Times magazine by James Vlahos, titled "Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?"

People don't need the experts to tell them that sitting around too much could give them a sore back or a spare tire. The conventional wisdom, though, is that if you watch your diet and get aerobic exercise at least a few times a week, you'll effectively offset your sedentary time. A growing body of inactivity research, however, suggests that this advice makes scarcely more sense than the notion that you could counter a pack-a-day smoking habit by jogging. "Exercise is not a perfect antidote for sitting," says Marc Hamilton, an inactivity researcher at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
The posture of sitting itself probably isn't worse than any other type of daytime physical inactivity, like lying on the couch watching "Wheel of Fortune." But for most of us, when we're awake and not moving, we're sitting. This is your body on chairs: Electrical activity in the muscles drops -- "the muscles go as silent as those of a dead horse," Hamilton says -- leading to a cascade of harmful metabolic effects. Your calorie-burning rate immediately plunges to about one per minute, a third of what it would be if you got up and walked. Insulin effectiveness drops within a single day, and the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes rises. So does the risk of being obese. The enzymes responsible for breaking down lipids and triglycerides -- for "vacuuming up fat out of the bloodstream," as Hamilton puts it -- plunge, which in turn causes the levels of good (HDL) cholesterol to fall.

Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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yesno

I thought the point was that an active lifestyle involving a lot of fidgeting burns more calories than an hour of vigorous exercise.

I go to the gym every day, but not for weight loss. If anything, lifting weights makes me eat more throughout the day.
The Mudshark

If it was, I probably wouldnÂ´t be sitting here, reading this right now.
lifeofideas

So, if sitting is bad, is lying down and actually sleeping even worse?
- sworm
  
  Sleeping has a a 100% mortality rate if you do it enough times.
  
  I do wonder if standing is actually so much healthier than sitting. Gives me back ache to be honest, and it wouldn’t be the first time someone passed out while waiting in a queue.
- Anonymous
  
  I wonder if you could use the Mohel’s friend, a folding foot step to elevate a foot and prevent back strain while using a standing desk?
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Bris-Step-Designed-Rabbinical-Circumcision/dp/B00345Z2BA/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1303226425&sr=8-8
  Â· Â· Â· â€” â€” â€” Â· Â· Â·
  L.
El Zilcho

“the muscles go as silent as those of a dead horse,”

Are you fucking kidding me? Did they get an interview with Chris Morris by mistake?

“Breaking news now, we’re hearing reports of researchers updating that figure to three dead cows”
hassenpfeffer

In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, “Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out of it alive.”
ecologist

If you’re interested in sitting, I highly recommend a book:

G. Cranz (2000) The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design. W.W.Norton.

In addition to lots of fascinating history of the chair and its uses, he recommends a position called “perching”, in which the angle between legs and torso is 135 degrees (halfway between sitting and standing) and your butt is just rested on the edge of a stool. It’s a position apparently familiar to draftspersons and such. I like it. It keeps more muscles active (in the body core especially) than ordinary sitting.

What has been missed in a lot of the comments here is that what makes these recent studies interesting is that sitting time turns out to predict mortality even AFTER taking into account the amount of exercise being done. That is, the evidence is compatible with sitting per se having an effect. That’s very different from the effect being lack of exercise per se.

Personally, I’m itching to put together a treadmill workstation and see how that feels, but haven’t done it yet.
Anonymous

Absurdity is absurd.

Perhaps these “experts” should stop trying to peg obesity and the Western set of diseases on shit like sitting down and attribute it to the overconsumption of calories and the lack of exercise in Westernized societies. Sitting is only a problem insofar as the fact that many people do it to the exclusion of running, standing, and walking. The suggestion that sitting is like smoking cigarettes is, frankly, moronic and ridiculous.
- Ernesto
  
  This is why we need to a better job with science reporting. If you read the entire article and look into the papers they cite (which they don’t link to, arggg) then you will understand that sitting is not just about obesity. It is being linked to variety of health factors other than obesity.
  
  For those interested in sedentary behavior (sitting) and health I have a pretty comprehensive catalog of research papers you can peruse here: http://www.mendeley.com/groups/530711/sedentary-behavior/
  
  You can also read a overview I co-authored here: http://ajl.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/02/10/1559827610395487.abstract
  
  If you want to ask questions about sitting and sedentary behavior feel free to ask and I will try and do my best to answer!
Anonymous

I take it these researchers don’t spend their time standing for a living. Standing still for long periods of time blows.
BookGuy

This is why I designed an elaborate harness system to keep me at a 45-degree angle to the floor at all times. No sitting, no standing. I plan to live to 175.
- Anonymous
  
  I plan to live to 175.
  
  Whippersnapper. My semi-recumbent gyroscopic workstation has kept my productivity levels high for lo these past three centuries.
  
  The cleaning staff seems to resent the vomit-splashed ceiling, however.
- futnuh
  
  I know a laid back librarian with a similar setup angled at -45 degrees. She’d be perfect for you.
Anonymous

The article definitely says that moving around is better than sitting. But it doesn’t seem to be very clear that simply standing still is much of an improvement. A treadmill desk would certainly help you stay healthy, but would a standing desk do the same?
Anonymous

Except that jogging directly counters inactivity i.e. sitting. It does not counter purposeful inhalation of carcinogens i.e. smoking. This is such a bad analogy from someone that is supposed to know better that it really makes me ignore whatever else they are saying.
Jack

I can relate my own experience as a tech contractor that has worked at home since January 2001: The fact I can lay down and take naps in-between doing tech work (ie: sitting and typing) radically improved my health. Lost about 30 pounds and am generally healthier as a result.

It’s not an option for everyone, but for me it was a revelation that makes me think taking a 9-5 job in an â€œofficeâ€ would wreck my health worse than I can imagine.
Anonymous

Is there any research comparing sitting in chairs compared to sitting on the ground? As a Boing Boing reader in Asia who spends a lot of her time low to the ground, I’d be curious to see if there’s any difference between the two.
Sagodjur

This just in: Scientists are reporting that 100% of all people who were born end up dying. We must stop having babies or the death epidemic will continue unabated!
- dargaud
  
  Sagodjur, your math is wrong, it’s about 94% of people who were ever born that have died. Think about it, not everybody is dead !
MollyMaguire

This only establishes a correlation, not a causation. Even with the evidence of the Bod Pod readings, sitting could still simply be a symptom of poor metabolism. Calories in vs calories out may be fundamentally true, but it’s the wrong context for studies of weight control. How can obesity track so well worldwide with poverty if it’s just a matter of eating too much and not exercising enough? Are you going to tell me that an overweight mother of 4 living in a refugee camp somewhere is slothful and should give more of her food to her children? It doesn’t make sense. It’s much more about the quality of food than the quantity. Eat right and you will have the energy to move around. Eat poorly and all you want to do is sit down.
alllie

Is standing lethal to you knees?
sebastian6

What’s next? Breathing brings too many neurotoxins into the brain, only with oxygen rich tanks will we have a full life? Sheesh. I think this article is weak and very discouraging for us overweight folks trying to improve our health by exercising three to four times a week and eat right.
burritoflats

It would seem that an exact balance between the eight standard awake positions (on back side, on front side, on left side, on right side, on stomach, on back, standing and sitting) would provide optimum work output with the least amount of damage to the body. Personally, standing while working is not an option as I have severe arthritis. Sitting while working is also kind of a drag.
BW

I’m not sure if I want to open this can of worms again, but: Can I sit as much as I want, if I don’t use soap?
Additionally, not owning chairs is great for the minimalist lifestyle.
- Anonymous
  
  Only if you don’t use deodorant.
Shart Tsung

I stand while I poo.
travtastic

A couple of years ago I got into the habit of putting on my custom TravWings set and doing gradual, sloping glides across my lab while I type on a netbook. I feel it really increases blood flow and good health.
burritoflats

Do chair testers stand while they’re working?
oohShiny

Standing isn’t very much better for you. Hazards.org has a whole article called the standing problem”. Quite frankly, only someone who’s never had to work eight hours on their feet would consider swapping sitting all the time for standing all the time. Perhaps you might want to keep your sitting desk and get a separate standing desk to swap off between?

Anyhow, it’s the prolonged and habitual inactivity that’s the problem. The guys over at Obesity Panacea have been trying different things, like their 30-Day Mini-Exercise Routine. Me, I keep a 20 lb. kettlebell by the side of my desk and use an egg timer to get me off my butt every half-hour to hour. But then, I also get 45-60 minutes of exercise every day, because I like to walk places (quickly).
Shart Tsung

Is flatulence healthy, unhealthy, or neutral?
pharmavixen

When I’m preparing doses of methadone for the clinic where I work, I use a kneeling chair. It’s hard on the knees after a while, forcing me to get up a couple of times an hour and walk around a bit. The previous chair I used was more comfortable, and I could sit for hours, but I had crippling back pain in the evening, a problem eliminated when I switched to the kneeling chair.

Maybe chairs are too comfortable – prior to the 19th century, chairs in European houses were rare.

And how about sitting on a yoga ball – you can’t really relax on those either.
Anonymous

Meditation…the silent killer.
- greybird
  
  yes! what about meditation?
  
  I sit cross legged (sometimes kneeling, sometimes squatting, sometimes “sitting”) in chairs. Sure, I have a desk job, but if sitting is so unhealthy, why do monks do it (unmoving at all, like a dead horse!) for hours and hours?
  
  some study of sitting posture would be really helpful. not everyone sits with their limbs at perfect 90 degree angles.
  
  also, Cranz’s The Chair is a really interesting book. It derailed my lifelong desire to become a chair designer. The 135 degree thing is provocative, but now seems a bit contrived to me.
  
  what role does posture play??????
alowishus

This is why I do all my work in the deep end of a pool, treading water. I made a sweet floating desk for my waterproof netbook.
Antinous / Moderator

Are we talking about sitting in a chair or sitting cross-legged on the floor? I would imagine that the results might be quite different.
Anonymous

Just strap a bunch of electrodes to your legs and abdomen and continually shock yourself throughout the day, seems like a remedy for no muscle activity, if muscle activity is all you need.
jeans

What does one do if they have chronic foot pain? I’m imagining a pair of super rigid pants that have built in shoes that don’t even touch my feet, distributing my weight across the lower half of my body.
corpserotten

what about people in wheelchairs? i guess we can just chalk them up to being totally screwed.
- kennapea
  
  as a paraplegic, all i have to say is: crap.
Anonymous

Reading and posting on bb is lethal.
hockeybrad

This seems kind of obvious and not very helpful. The study finds that moving during the day is better than sitting or lying down. Yes, I think we all assumed that. It goes on to say that exercising while you’re not sitting is as effective as a smoker being a jogger. I guess being a very active athlete is all for not since I’m a Webmaster.

In short, Mark, I don’t think these guys are going to be very impressed by your standing desk. If your job doesn’t involve manual labor, you’re DOOOMED.
Anonymous

One discussion worth having is now whether or not sitting, or standing, are in and of themselves harmful, but in fact HOW we are sitting and HOW we are standing that affects the quality of our organism’s functioning. When you are sitting, can you feel your “sit bones”, and are they aligned with your shoulder, and the top of your spine (the point where your skull rotates on a ball pivot). If not, then the disturbed equilibrium contributes heavily to a dysfunctional state, whether sitting or standing. None of this is new information. F.M. Alexander’s technique for re-education of the kinaesthetic sense is one effective strategy for approaching quality of USE. There are others, but the core principal of alignment and ease are universal.
Anonymous

Visit Ergotron.com for sit stand ideas.
also juststand.org
Anonymous

My understanding is that it isn’t sitting per se, but a sedentary lifestyle.

A 30 minute to an hour work out in the gym is a very poor excuse for a day’s worth of movement.
- Raj77
  
  Only if you don’t actually work out when you’re at the gym, but stand about at the water cooler talking.
penguinchris

Most people like sitting down because it doesn’t involve any work. If you were standing all day, you wouldn’t feel like going out and exercising later – ask anyone who stands all day at their job (and not by choice – keep in mind, people who use standing desks are unusual). First thing they do when they get home is sit down because they’re tired!

I think if you have a job that involves a workstation, sitting (and getting up occasionally to get the blood flowing or whatever) is better, because then you’ll have the energy later to do more intense exercise. It’s a compromise.

Of course, sitting all day and then not doing any exercise later (or in the morning) is what most people do, and obviously that’s not the right solution :)
tylerkaraszewski

If someone could give me a way to test the results of sitting while working (i.e., by doing some sort of measurements before and after) I’d gladly try this experiment for a while. I have an adjustable desk in my office that can raise to standing height, but I almost never use it that way.
- Anonymous
  
  It’ll grow 3-6 inches, guaranteed! I know this is true because I worked in a video store in 2002. Wait, what were we talking about?
fergus1948

I’ve spent 40 years as a teacher looking forward to a well-earned rest upon retirement, a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, sugar in the occasional biscuit and a lot of BoingBoing (and its like) on my computer while I SIT comfortably in my chair.

And now I’ve got to that point it turns out I’ll be dead soon!

Thanks for telling me.

PS If I’d known this 40 years ago I could have lived forever, just like a rich guy from Los Angeles.
holtt

I for one am not taking this half assed full on frontal assault on my rear sitting down, and am standing up for my rights to use my left hand in any position.
gths

And so the War on Sleeping begins.
giuliano

I switched to a stand up desk for about a year a few years back. I kept a part of the desk for sitting. When I switched offices I went back to a sit down desk. Overall I liked the stand up desk a bit better. Contrary to what I would of thought ahead of time, I didn’t get tired standing the whole day. I suspect because I could move around from time to time, and sit when I wanted to, even if it was only for a few minutes a day.

While I did like it, I don’t believe it did jack to make me healthier. Don’t recall losing weight. Or getting better blood sugar, lower pulse rate or blood pressure, or any other benefits.
Anonymous

The real problem is not whether we’re sitting or standing in our offices – the problem is that we’re in our offices 12 hours a day. Most “9-to-5″ jobs are anything but 9 to 5. Regardless of whether you’re sitting, standing, or hanging upside-down like a vampire bat, the human body and mind are not designed to work at an office job 12 hours a day.

I have a standing workstation at home, mostly due to the lack of a comfortable ergonomic chair and the lack of space. I don’t mind it, but then again, I never work 12-hour days, or even 8-hour days.
Anonymous

This is just anecdotal evidence, but I noticed while living in Japan without chairs in my apartment (I either sat on the floor or on a stool at a desk) that it took a lot of work to keep upright, and it tired me out. After a few hours of sitting I felt anything but inactive â€“ it was like a form of low-level, steady exercise.
Anonymous

Sometimes, as I surf and read; surf and read, I think there is just too much information out there.

I’d enjoy a nice comparative piece about sitting vs squatting or holding the lotus position.

I just drink a lot of water. That way I am getting up and taking a stroll fairly often.
Suds

Sitting Lethal? Depends Where you sit.
Anonymous

I know plenty of people that have generations of sitters. They seem to be doing just fine.

Maybe the article was posted a little tongue in cheek; but unless it improves your actual quality of life (noticably) then it seems irrelivant to me. If for example it added an extra 2 months to my life, I really couldn’t give a monkeys (unless I was only going to live for another 3 months of course!).

But ye, ultimately this seems more like Daily Mail “Sitting gives you cancer” material to me.