Comments on: Too Much Sitting = Too Bad For Your Health

By: John

John — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:22:38 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Joan – great advice!

By: Joan Vernikos

Joan Vernikos — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:40:45 +0000

You make many excellent points and the three above are perhaps the most important. But lying down continuously is worse than sitting. Yes you can relax lying down but anything done continuously is not good for the body and that goes for standing too. The body responds best to on/off stimulation, so lying down sitting or standing is harmful unless interrupted by movement. The movement does not have to be intense. It is best when it is high frequency, low intensity and diverse. We learned this from studies with astronauts in space who live esentially without gravity and healthy volunteers lying cotinuously in bed for days, that we used as the ground model to induce changes similar to those in space. In both cases the resulting changes are similar to those of accelerated aging. It takes at least 16 times of standing up or walking at 3mph for a few minutes from lying down to prevent at least the cardiovascular effects lying down continuously 24 hours per day. Standing up was better than walking. Walking was better for bone loss and needed a lot less.We speculated that it would take 32 – 36 times of standing up spread out throughout the day from sitting. It is easy to structure your life to get up roughly every 30 minutes until it becomes a habit again. The body evolved and was designed as a perpetual motion machine using gravity as the stimulus to stay tuned. Your Time Out might help to get you going but not essential. As you point out the first thing is to become aware and take responsibility for your health. Think of it as tuning. Too much or too little of anything is not good. Check out ‘Sitting Kills, Moving Heals’.

By: Greg

Greg — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 19:50:16 +0000

I love your style of writing. I have a solution for people to try before quitting their desk job. I have been doing this recently; I stand when I am doing anything other than typing. I am working on getting my work to ok, for me to get a desk, or addition to my desk that will put my key board and monitor at a height that will allow me to stand when I type. I read other research where they had people perform computer task while seated as well as standing. While standing the participants were 5-30% more effective at the task opposed to sitting. Based on that study alone, companies should want their employees to stand and not sit.

By: Damien Tougas

Damien Tougas — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:16:57 +0000

Hello Hunter,

It was your video that inspired me to do the same!

By: Hunter Joslin

Hunter Joslin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:47:31 +0000

Hi John,

I am a full believer in the unhealthful situation most people are in on a daily basis due to sitting for prolonged periods of time. I changed to a stand up work station in 2004 due to a pinched nerve in my neck which was aggravated by sitting at the computer for 6-8 hours a day. I try to enlighten everyone I can to the advantages of not sitting down for hours on end. I have a video on my website titled Ergonomic Indo Office which shows how it works. My physical condition has changed remarkably because I’m getting exercise while working. Let me know if you find any interest in the Indo Board as an alternative to sitting.
Sincerely, Hunter Joslin, President, Indo Board Balance Trainer