Who’d have thought I work in a dangerous job?
Well, I do, according to the news that’s resurfaced lately, that people who sit for prolonged periods of time each day are at a greater risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, arthritis—okay, basically, an earlier death than those who don’t. Apparently I missed all the stories about it last year, but caught one a few days ago when it flashed across my homepage (and new research about children and sitting followed a few days later). Yeah, we all know that being a couch potato (or desk potato) equals fat, and we’ve also been told that getting more exercise can make that fat go away, so what will this “news” tell us that we don’t already know? Shouldn’t I have just skipped that article and gone on to something more compelling, like the Royal Wedding or who got voted off on American Idol? I’m glad I read to the end. And that I looked up more information. Because what I read says that even if you add regular exercise into your life each week, it won’t make a difference to your overall health if you spend the majority of your time sitting. And not just one “ground-breaking study” says that. Several, conducted in the U.S. as well as across the globe.
One study of 13,000 men and women over the course of 13 years found that people who sit for most of the day are 54% more likely to die of heart attacks. A large-scale Australian study found that adults without known diabetes who sat for long periods of time had higher rates of abnormal glucose metabolism. Another, funded by the American Cancer Society, studied 123,216 people with no history of cancer, heart attack, stroke or lung disease and found a higher total mortality rate among those who sat a lot– for those who sat more than six hours per day, the rate was at least 18%, spanning all those diseases. And the rates for women were higher—37%, and in women and men who didn’t incorporate much physical activity into their life, the rates jumped to 94% and 48% respectively. 94%?! And I’ll bet if they further broke it down by those who work from home vs. those who don’t, us WAHM’s rates would be even higher, since we have no co-workers begging us to take a break. And, come to think of it, heart disease runs in my family…Geez, doesn’t that put my risk of death higher than police officers, stunt pilots and Keith Richards?
Evidently when the body is inactive, certain important regulatory functions are impaired and start to shut down– researchers at a Stanford University conference last summer called it a “unique cascade of physiological changes”…for example, how fat and sugars are regulated in our bloodstream. And once those processes get out of whack, bad stuff can happen, like the build-up of artery plaque. Heading to the gym once, twice, or even three times a week can’t prevent it, as these metabolic changes happen every time you sit for about three to four hours or more.
That definitely makes me squirm…in my chair…the one I sit in all the time…yep, I could be in big trouble. I mean, ever since my oldest child was 2 and I gave up the outside working world for life as a work-at-home mom/writer/nonstop volunteer, I’ve spent a huge amount of time sitting at my computer. That would be almost 15 years of prolonged daily sits to be exact, the kind of sits where you get so immersed in writing something that you can’t stop and you lose track of time. And after you finish, there’s email to answer. And phone calls to make. More sit-able activities. I often also eat breakfast and lunch at my desk…some days I think I’d never get up if it weren’t for the dogs needing to be let out and fed. My dad always used to say I was a “good little traveler” because I could “hold it” for hours and never beg to go to the bathroom on long car trips, and unfortunately that skill has continued into adulthood. So throw “kidney problems” onto that list of potential health hazards, and eye problems, too, from staring at a computer screen all day! I can easily sit for four or more hours straight when I’m trying to finish a writing assignment, and since that was hard to do when the kids were young, I got into the habit of getting jobs done late, late at night (a bad habit that continues today), and losing sleep because of it (yet another health risk!!). Once the kids were both in school, I began sitting at my desk even more, during daylight hours—and today when I’m not at my desk, I’m often driving kids around—sitting in a car. Who’d have thought I might be slowly killing myself? Now I feel like Adam West in the original Batman movie, running around with that giant fake-looking bomb in his hands, trying to get rid of it…
The news stories go on to say that there is hope, although the solution is not necessarily one of those new “standing” desks (which bring their own health issues after prolonged use, like foot and hip problems, varicose veins, carpal tunnel syndrome and an extra load on the circulatory system). Researchers suggest, for adults as well as children, creating a balance between sitting and standing throughout the day, making sure to get up from your desk every 20 minutes and stretch or move around (hmmm…with “writing immersion”, I’d probably have to set a loud timer…then again, with my sluggish computer, I’d have lots of opportunities for breaks if I got up every time an hourglass appears on my screen for more than 2 seconds…) Another suggestion is to replace your desk chair with one of those giant inflatable exercise balls (wow, talk about balance, not to mention a good thigh workout…).
Yes, I have already been trying to stick to a pledge I made last month to walk and bike more during the day (although it’s getting harder now that outside temperatures have been hitting the 80s and 90s) and this news definitely makes me want to stick to that pledge even more (not to mention the fact that gasoline prices are now in the realm of insanity), but this is a wake-up (er, GET UP) call to go further, and completely change how I’ve been doing business. So excuse me while I stop this post and go move around—I’ve been at my computer for exactly three and a half hours, and I think I hear my enzymes starting to snore…