In my quest to get fitter and lose weight, I came across some articles on the fact that sitting at a desk all day (which I do) is pretty bad for you. Even going to the gym or exercising in the evening isn't enough to counteract how unhealthy sitting for long periods is.

So, does anyone have any experience of this? Has anyone switched jobs going from one mostly on their feet to one mostly sitting (or vice versa), and noticed any difference to their health or physique?

Here is one of the articles I read. Feel free to pull one such article apart: http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/28/standing-up-on-the-job-one-way-to-improve-your-health/

What does that really mean? It only talks about death in the next 3 years, and it only talks about sitting. It then goes on to apply that to sitting at a desk, but its not always the same thing. For most people in the early and mid parts of their life death in the next 3 years is a pretty small risk, particularly for those who are in work, and therefore in at least reasonably good health.

If you are not in work it seems logical that very active people will, generally, live longer than very inactive people. Particularly given that the inactive people is likely to include almost all the people with very serious degenerative illness.

Usual rules apply, I guess. Keep active, take exercise, eat sensible diet, avoid frequent excess of anything (including sitting) and you'll be right. And you can prove anything with statistics.

Sitting around all day is very bad for your back, humans are not really designed to sit about. So keep active and go for a short walk around at least every hour.

Equally, standing still for long perids of time is not good for veins in the legs.

Varicose veins was an occupational hazard for Merchant Navy deck officers: At least 8 hours a day watch keeping meant being on your feet with no space to walk more than a few paces.

Sitting all day gives you a fat backside eventually (or so I read).

It's a good excuse to make regular trips to the coffee machine

Worst possible scenario

I'm guessing that sitting down in a paraglider harness is ok, then...

I go to the crisps and chocolate machine.

On the ground, yes, but some eejits throw them into the air!


"If God had intended us to fly he wouldn't have created RyanAir...."

I think RyanAir may have been the work of God's opposite...

You mean........a woman?


Nah, then they'd be stopping every two minutes and asking for directions!

Hmm, actually, you may just have a point....!

Ah, my field.

Generally correct to all the above - we're not designed to sit or stand for long periods. We're designed to walk and run, pretty much, constantly. That and all the subsequent adaptions, is arguably the single most important reason as to why humans came to rule the world.

The problem is, 5 minutes sitting cancels out the good of 5 minutes walking. 2 hours sitting canceles out the good of 2 hours walking, etc. So spending half your desk job walking about may be somewhat hard to incorporate.

Likewise, whilst standing is better than sitting, it aint good either mostly due to the blood pooling effect of gravity in un-musclarly-supported veins. (active muscles aid pressure and support viens whose valves otherwise fail under constant gravitational load of gravity cause a varicose vein. Standing isn't active.)

So, as I advise clients, if you're going to do a desk job and need to sit for ages either quit and kill your boss gruesomely for crimes against naturalism, or slouch. That's right, lay as flat as you can in your chair - body "piked-out" legs straight, back straight. This stops your muscles shortening causing all sorts of problems from headaches to backpain and also prevents the vein-damaging effects of gravity.

I love saving humanity from itself.