Is sitting at your desk all day unhealthy?
Asked by
KTWBE (
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August 24th, 2010
I remember reading “The Westing Game” by Ellen Raskin as a kid, and one of the characters is described as “wide-hipped” from 30 or 40 years of “secretarial sitting.” Is this a legitimate effect of desk-sitting, or does it fall into the category of creative liberty?
Essentially, if you sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, however many years you work at a desk, are you going to see physical effects? Are there ways to counteract such effects?
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14 Answers
Will you see any side effects? I’d expect so. I also suspect that describing a person as “wide-hipped” is simply a tactful way of saying that they’re overweight.
Side effects of office life include: weight gain, bad posture, dulled creativity, loss of will to live.
As long as you get a fair amount of exercise outside of the office and lay off the fast-food, you should be fine. Staying in good health is the best solution. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a physical activity that you enjoy – Hiking, rock climbing, walking, jogging through a forest (my favorite, especially right after it rains), some sport or another, anything to get your heart rate up for at least a half-hour. These also tend to help with the other “side-effects” i mentioned above.
I very much doubt that sitting in an office will cause your pelvis bones to warp.
I sit in front of a computer all day and always make it a point a few times a day to take a walk around the building or outside when the weather is nice. Stretches my back and legs, relaxes my eyes and burns a few calories.
“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.”
CBS News
I HONESTLY wish I had a treadmill in my office.
@marinelife that’s new. and more than a little bit disturbing. I’d like to see the final results when the come in.
I heard they get carbon tunnel alot.
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Oh Yes! I am sorry. Bingo ! That’s it.
When I don’t ride my bike into work, I go out at lunch for a walk, about 1.25 miles, in the city park across from my office building. That works until there’s too much snow and ice out there. Being a mouse potato is definitely bad for your waistline.
@marinelife good job. One other reason sitting all day is unhealthy is that it slows down intestinal peristalsis. It is also unnatural and actually stressful for a male with potentially large musculature to not use those muscles which can atrophy if not used. Blood circulation slows, colons become toxic, junk foods tend to be readily consumed, fat builds up, muscles deteriorate-it is so detrimental to bodily functions to just sit all day.
@marinelife: Well that’s just ducky for those of us with desk jobs.
Sitting anywhere all day is unhealthy.
Yes.. that is why I hit the gym every evening after work.
And lately I notice that I am getting cellulite in my lower but and the back of my thighs.
When I was a student I never had this, and what really irks me about this is that I exercise regularly. .. so it must be because I sit at my desk most of the day.
I don’t think getting up for 1 minute helps much. The whole sitting at a computer this is not normal.
Human beings were originally designed to be out in the fields gathering and hunting.
Just think about it..
Hit the gym every evening after work.. so you won’t have to worry about it.. if not then you need to cut back significantly on your caloric intake.
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