Stop Reading This!

A new month and a new topic as grist for the mill: Sitters.

So, what are you doing right this minute? Stop, look away from the screen, look around you. I'm sitting on my grandfather's chaise, my favorite blogspot, with my characteristic blogging lunch of Pam-sprayed, sea-salted air-popped popcorn and diet coke within reach (fills me up, satisfies the need for chewing motion, makes my ankles swell for 24 hours, and deposits the customary popcorn fluff between the keys of Lappy, The Laptop). I'm wearing my Curves With Zumba outfit and letting the sweat dry in place, 'cause a retiree doesn't have to interact with anyone who might be offended. And I'm more or less sitting on an ice pack, trying to get my inflamed periformis and iliotibials to shut up and chill out. Ordinarily, I'd be feeling proud of myself right now: I've exercised for the day, I'm recording my Weight Watchers points, and I have yet to knowingly and deliberately offend a single soul all day so far. 'Course, I've only written the intro to this post, so, on that last score, gimme time.

Cue the goody two-shoes NPR story from the American College of Cardiologists on the side-effects of excess sitting and prolonged screen time . Fabulous.

Cardiology at Concorde, UK:

 People who spend two hours or more a day in front of a screen during their leisure time—primarily watching television—have more than double the risk of cardiovascular events over four years compared with those who spend less than two hours a day in front of a screen, even after adjustment of the findings for physical activity. [Source: Journal of American College of Cardiologists, Jan 18, 2011]

Me, sedentary?

Sedentary behavior is typically defined as any behavior with an exceedingly low energy expenditure (defined as <1.5 metabolic equivalents). In general, this means that almost any time you are sitting (e.g. working on a computer, watching TV, driving) or lying down, you are engaging in sedentary behavior. There are a few notable exceptions when you can be sitting or lying down but still expend high energy expenditure (e.g. riding a stationary bike), but in general if you are sitting down, you are being sedentary. [SciAm, 1/06/2011]

And regular workouts between daily sit-ins are not the answer:

The above definition may seem rather intuitive, but this is not the way that the term sedentary has been used by exercise science researchers for the past 50 years. Up until very recently, referring to someone as sedentary meant simply that they were not meeting current guidelines for physical activity. In simple terms, if you were exercising for 60+ minutes/day, you were considered physically active. If you were exercising 10 minutes/day, you were sedentary. Case closed. But as we will discuss below, sedentary time is closely associated with health risk regardless of how much physical activity you perform on a daily basis. Further, it is entirely possible to meet current physical activity guidelines while still being incredibly sedentary. Thus, to quote researcher Marc Hamilton, sitting too much is not the same as exercising too little. [Sci. Am, 1/06/2011]

We're BLOGGERS! We write 'em, read 'em, research for 'em. I'm doomed based on my sittage for today, alone! What's a person with a rear end to do?  Should we even be meeting like this?