Experts: Sitting too much could be deadly

spend most of their days sitting are more likely to ... die.

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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.

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akonradi said:

So I'm less likely to die if I don't sit a lot?

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480-Pound Woman Dies After Six Years On Couch
Posted: 3:48 pm EDT August 11, 2004

STUART, Fla. -- A 480-pound Martin County woman has died after emergency workers tried to remove her from the couch where she had remained for about six years.

Gayle Laverne Grinds, 40, died Wednesday, after a failed six-hour effort to dislodge her from the couch in her home. Workers say the home was filthy, and Grinds was too large to get up from the couch to even use the bathroom.

Everyone going inside the home had to wear protective gear. The stench was so powerful they had to blast in fresh air.

A preliminary autopsy on the the four-foot, ten-inch woman lists the cause of death as "morbid obesity." But officials want to know more about the circumstances inside the home.

Investigators say Grinds lived with a man named Herman Thomas, who says he tried to take care of her the best he could. He has told them he tried repeatedly to get her up, but simply couldn't. No charges have been filed, but officials are looking into negligence issues.

Emergency workers had to remove some sliding glass doors and lift the couch, with Grinds still on it, to a trailer behind a pickup truck. Removing her from the couch would be too painful, since her body was grafted to the fabric. After years of staying put, her skin had literally become one with the sofa and had to be surgically removed.
She died at Martin Memorial Hospital South, still attached to the couch.

Neighbors say they had no idea Grinds lived at the duplex, though they had seen Thomas and some children outside.

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2jaded2care said:

Surprised the article doesn't seem to mention Deep Vein Thrombosis. I thought everyone knew it's dangerous to sit for extended periods of time.

Wish I could use this as an argument to get an Anthro desk, so I could work standing up when I want to...

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pooky said:

*facepalm*

Let me see if I understand the genius-level logic at work here...

1. Being fat and lazy means you're more likely to die (so far so good)...

2. People who sit for long periods are more likely to be fat (still good)...

3. Therefore, sitting makes you die! (did I miss something?)

Normally I'm one to defend research that appears to be intuitive, but in this case, either the reporters or the researchers need to have their heads examined.

In other news, ******** in the woods and wiping your ass with poison ivy will likely lead to an itchy, rashy anus. Therefore, ******** in the woods causes smelly fingers. Use caution everyone, I implore you.

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Raid said:

This is why I need a business hammock.

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Surely said:

You can buy one in the hammock district.

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LONDON — Here's a new warning from health experts: 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.

In an editorial published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define physical activity to highlight the dangers of sitting.

While health officials have issued guidelines recommending minimum amounts of physical activity, they haven't suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position.

"After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals," Ekblom-Bak said. She explained that genes regulating the amount of glucose and fat in the body start to shut down.

Even for people who exercise, spending long stretches of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every day - but still spend a lot of time sitting - might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single bout.

That wasn't welcome news for Aytekin Can, 31, who works at a London financial company, and spends most of his days sitting in front of a computer. Several evenings a week, Can also teaches jiu jitsu, a Japanese martial art involving wrestling, and also does Thai boxing.

"I'm sure there are some detrimental effects of staying still for too long, but I hope that being active when I can helps," he said. "I wouldn't want to think the sitting could be that dangerous."

Still, in a study published last year that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years, researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk, independently of whether or not they exercised.

"We don't have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad," said Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, who led the Canadian study. "But it seems the more you can get up and interrupt this sedentary behaviour, the better."

Figures from a U.S. survey in 2003-2004 found Americans spend more than half their time sitting, from working at their desks to sitting in cars.

Experts said more research is needed to figure out just how much sitting is dangerous, and what might be possible to offset those effects.

"People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits," Ekblom-Bak said. "But when they're in the office, they should try to interrupt sitting as often as possible," she said. "Don't just send your colleague an email. Walk over and talk to him. Standing up."

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Iscariot said:

Canadian Press

I've often talked to my clients about the dangers of sitting for long periods of time, but usually because of the negative effects on pelvic balance and upper spine curvature. While this study offers little information about the whys, the sample size was fairly large. Thoughts?

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