{"id":25011,"date":"2013-03-07T21:34:32","date_gmt":"2013-03-08T02:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbach.net\/blog\/index.php\/"},"modified":"2021-08-15T19:45:36","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T23:45:36","slug":"sitting-is-the-smoking-of-our-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/sitting-is-the-smoking-of-our-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/digitalphotopix.com\/people\/is-sitting-killing-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-115074\" title=\"Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sitting_icn-e1596566590670-150x115.jpg?resize=110%2C84&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation\" width=\"110\" height=\"84\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sitting_icn-e1596566590670.jpg?resize=150%2C115&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sitting_icn-e1596566590670.jpg?resize=75%2C57&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sitting_icn-e1596566590670.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 110px) 100vw, 110px\" \/><\/a><a title=\"Nilofer Merchant\" href=\"http:\/\/nilofermerchant.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nilofer Merchant<\/a> recently posted the article\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.hbr.org\/cs\/2013\/01\/sitting_is_the_smoking_of_our_generation.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+harvardbusiness+%28HBR.org%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader\"><strong>Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation<\/strong><\/a><\/em> at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.hbr.org\/cs\/2013\/01\/sitting_is_the_smoking_of_our_generation.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+harvardbusiness+%28HBR.org%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader\">Harvard Business Review<\/a>. In the article, Ms. Merchant argues that the amount of <strong>time spent sitting<\/strong> in meetings and watching TV has a <strong>negative impact on our health<\/strong>, akin to the <strong>preventable risk<\/strong> of smoking.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boldsky.com\/health\/wellness\/2017\/why-a-sitting-job-is-bad-for-your-heart-and-waist-111630.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-115075\" title=\"people spend more time sitting than anything else\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/wona_sitting-e1596566745559-122x150.jpg?resize=77%2C95&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"77\" height=\"95\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/wona_sitting-e1596566745559.jpg?resize=122%2C150&amp;ssl=1 122w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/wona_sitting-e1596566745559.jpg?resize=61%2C75&amp;ssl=1 61w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/wona_sitting-e1596566745559.jpg?w=366&amp;ssl=1 366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 77px) 100vw, 77px\" \/><\/a>The author says people <strong>spend more time sitting than anything else<\/strong> throughout the day. She cites some statistics: <em>&#8220;&#8230; <strong>we sit more than we do anything else<\/strong>. We&#8217;re averaging 9.3 hours a day, compared to 7.7 hours of sleep. Sitting is so prevalent and so pervasive that we don&#8217;t even question how much we&#8217;re doing it. &#8220;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There are big problems caused by sitting according to the article, health studies conclude that people should sit less, and get up and move around.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After 1 hour of sitting, the production of enzymes that <strong>burn fat<\/strong> <strong>declines<\/strong> by as much as 90%.<\/li>\n<li>Extended sitting <strong>slows<\/strong> the body&#8217;s metabolism affecting things like (good cholesterol)<strong> <a title=\"High-density lipoprotein\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/High-density_lipoprotein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"wikipedia noopener noreferrer\">HDL<\/a><\/strong> levels in our bodies.<\/li>\n<li>Lack of physical activity is directly tied to 6% of the impact for <strong>heart diseases<\/strong>, 7% for <strong>type 2 diabetes<\/strong>, and 10% for <strong>breast cancer<\/strong>, or <strong>colon cancer<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-100517\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/rip-tombstone3-1.png?resize=89%2C95&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"89\" height=\"95\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/rip-tombstone3-1.png?resize=141%2C150&amp;ssl=1 141w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/rip-tombstone3-1.png?resize=70%2C75&amp;ssl=1 70w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/rip-tombstone3-1.png?w=250&amp;ssl=1 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 89px) 100vw, 89px\" \/>The <em><a title=\"New York Times\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York Times<\/a><\/em> <a title=\"Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20220605161705\/https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/04\/17\/magazine\/mag-17sitting-t.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported<\/a> on another study, published last year in the journal <strong><a title=\"Circulation\" href=\"https:\/\/circ.ahajournals.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Circulation<\/a><\/strong> that looked at nearly 9,000 Australians and found that for each additional <strong>hour of television<\/strong> a person sat and watched per day, the <strong>risk of dying rose by 11%<\/strong>. In that article, a doctor is quoted as saying that excessive sitting, which he defines as nine hours a day, is a <strong>lethal activity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The author points out some trends to combat the negative impacts of sitting. The first is the mainstreaming of the <strong>standing desk<\/strong>. She concludes that, while it gets you off your duff, won&#8217;t help you get real exercise.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Ms. Merchant describes a change she has made to her routine. <em>&#8220;&#8230; I switched one meeting from a coffee meeting to a <b>walking meeting<\/b>&#8230; I now average four such meetings, and 20 to 30 miles each week.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2016-12-heels-toes.html\"><\/a>She also cites the work of James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis&#8217;s, book <a title=\"Connected\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Connected-Surprising-Networks-Friends-Everything\/dp\/0316036137\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Connected<\/a>. They <a title=\"You and Your Friend\u2019s Friend\u2019s Friends \" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20220809095405\/https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/10\/04\/books\/review\/Stossel-t.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">observed<\/a> that obesity spreads according to <strong>network effects<\/strong>; if your friend&#8217;s friend&#8217;s friend who lives a thousand miles away gains weight, you&#8217;re likely to gain weight, too. And if that extended friend also loses weight, even if you&#8217;re not in the same city, you&#8217;re likely to lose weight, too. Her goal, <em>&#8221; is to be someone who socializes the idea that physical activity matters, and that we each matter enough to take care of our health.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The author says that her walking meetings had some unanticipated side benefits. She reports walking helps her listen to her participants. &#8220;&#8230; I can actually <strong>listen<\/strong> better when I am walking next to someone than when I&#8217;m across from them in some coffee shop. There&#8217;s something about being side-by-side that puts the problem or ideas before us, and us working on it together.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, she reports that the meetings are more focused, because the <strong>iTimeWasters stay in the pocket<\/strong>, &#8220;<em>the simple act of moving also means the mobile device mostly stays put away. Undivided attention is perhaps today&#8217;s scarcest resource, and hiking meetings allow me to invest that resource very differently.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20210420014616\/http:\/\/www.dsmh2o.com\/tag\/customer-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"listen better\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/web.archive.org\/web\/20141220050818\/http%3A\/\/www.dsmh2o.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/listen-1-683x1024.jpg?resize=68%2C102&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"listen better\" width=\"68\" height=\"102\" \/><\/a>The authors claim that the results of these off-beat meetings are positive.\u00a0 <em>&#8220;The number one thing I&#8217;ve heard people say is &#8220;That was the most creative time I&#8217;ve had in a long time&#8221; And that could be because we&#8217;re outside, or a result of walking. Research certainly says that walking is good for the brain.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>rb-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>The author concludes that if you want to get out of the box thinking, you need to literally get out of the box.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>If nothing else, when sitting for long periods, standing up every 20 minutes produces significant positive health benefits. I <a title=\"Bach Seat\" href=\"http:\/\/wp.me\/p2wgaW-7v\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrote<\/a> about the link between inactivity and health back in 2009.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Do you believe that sitting to the smoking of our generation?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><a title=\"Ralph Bach\" href=\"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/new-resume\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ralph Bach<\/a>\u00a0has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his\u00a0<a title=\"Bach Seat\" href=\"https:\/\/rbach.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bach Seat<\/a> about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on <a class=\"broken_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rb48334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ralph.bach.14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rbach48334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>. Email the Bach Seat\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:\/\/bach.seat@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People spend more than 9 hours a day sitting causing problems like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease stand and walk more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[3044,32,1568,1567,329,1565,1399,729,1564,1566],"class_list":["post-25011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-3044","tag-business","tag-cancer","tag-diabetes","tag-healthcare","tag-heart-disease","tag-meeting","tag-physical-exercise","tag-sitting","tag-walking-meeting"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25011"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130238,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25011\/revisions\/130238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}