Just a reminder: The Health Risks of Sitting More Than 8 Hours a Day

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SaltMaker23@reddit

Usual question: which one of these can explain the results ?

Correlation
Cause
Consequence

Generally do people in bad shape sit more, or do people sitting more get in worse shape ?

Generally do people whose meal plan is burger beer and soda sit more than the vegan, almond milk crowd ?

Gnerally do people who do sports have 1h+ less available to sit, or are people just wanting to sit more irrespective of situations ?

I have my doubts about this study, it looks to me like both excess sitting and health problems are consequences of the same underlying causes.

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currentscurrents@reddit

Generally do people in bad shape sit more, or do people sitting more get in worse shape ?

It's definitely both.

Sitting around and not exercising is what makes you get in bad shape. But once you are in bad shape, exercise isn't very fun. Your lungs burn, your heart pounds, your muscles ache. So you avoid exercise even more and get in even worse shape.

It's a vicious cycle.

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Ok_Thanks_2@reddit (OP)

Those are perfectly valid questions and a insightful point. You're right, it's a tangled web - lifestyle, diet, and activity levels are all linked.

But what's fascinating is that even when researchers do account for those other factors (like diet and overall exercise levels), they find that prolonged sitting itself still emerges as an independent risk factor. The physiological act of being static for long hours causes its own unique harm. It's not just a symptom of a bad lifestyle; it's a direct contributor to it.

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SaltMaker23@reddit

You can't account for other factors, this isn't possible that's the whole idea of unknown factors.

People with competitive video game (eg: AoE2, counterstrike, etc...) as hobby will stay seated for massive amounts of time.

Depressed people irrespective of diagnosis, pregnant women, old people, people with various uncomforts irrespective of diagonisis, saddened people (eg: loss a loved one) etc... I can continue forever with situations causing to sit more that are obviously linked to an increase in death risk.

When you spend too much time in your bed, the diagnosis isn't that staying in bed will increase death risk, it's that depression kills people and there is a high risk of you being depressed.

Longer time spent in stitting/sleeping position have been linked multiple times to people in "bad places", those people will undoubtedly have increased mortality, them not sitting won't get them out of their predicament.

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FINDarkside@reddit

Are you claiming eating ice cream doesn't make you a bad swimmer? The statistics are clear about that.

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FaceyMcFacface@reddit

Did you read the study? They controlled for physical activity. Would be kinda pointless if they didn't.

However, participants who reported sitting 8 hours per day or more but had moderate to high physical activity had a similar risk [...] compared with those who sat the least (<4 hours per day) and also had low physical activity [...]

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v4rlo@reddit

Without even looking at the study we can be pretty sure that it's just a correlation and probably a weak one. There is just nothing to see there, studies to establish risk or cause do not exists in human beings as it relates to any long term hard health outcome. They probably didn't even measure anyone sitting time they just asked in a survey

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programming-ModTeam@reddit

Your posting was removed for being off topic for the /r/programming community.

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TypeComplex2837@reddit

Thank god - can you imagine doing this for 50 years?!

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mini_market@reddit

Nail, congrats on being hit on your head.

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ayham_gala@reddit

Only 8 hours?" ...asks the entire programming community, debugging at 3 AM.

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anengineerandacat@reddit

Standing desks are recommended for reasons.

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aivdov@reddit

people were fighting to get to sit at jobs, people who were standing as cashiers don't have it any better

you simply need all kinds of activities and one isn't better than the other

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yonasismad@reddit

Standing desks allow you to mix things up. I don't stand all day, but I do stand for some of it, and I have a small walking treadmill under my standing desk at home.

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TomWithTime@reddit

I sit too much. At ~32 years I parked that was giving me high blood pressure. Being in ok physical shape but sedentary will eventually kill a person. Hopefully I can be a warning to anyone else who shrugs it off because it's been fine and no symptoms manifest from it.

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yubario@reddit

Good luck getting your company to buy a desk that costs twice as much just for one employee. Sure you can get a doctors note but they still find ways to be dicks about it

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pleaseavoidcaps@reddit

Also if I'm already standing I never procrastinate going to the bathroom or refilling the water bottle or stretching or doing anything that requires moving around. It's harder to break inertia when I'm sitting.

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Scream_Tech7661@reddit

I stand on a balance board at my standing desk. The bottom of the platform is an upside down dome, so I can rock around 360°.

It’s surprisingly nice!

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jen1980@reddit

I've worked with quite a few people that demanded them, but I don't think any actually used them except rarely after the newness wore off. I don't think they're a great solution.

The laptop stand on the treadmill at work is a much better idea.

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van-dame@reddit

Standing desks don't magically lower that risk. What you need is physical activity. Just standing instead of sitting does nothing towards that unless you make a conscious effort..

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Ashamed-Simple-8303@reddit

I just ensure I get up and walk every hour or so for different reasons. Standing has downsides as well.

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anengineerandacat@reddit

I mean, your supposed to vary your position and posture; it's not like you "just" stand with a standing desk. It's capable of raising/lowering that's basically the main element to it.

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ninefourteen@reddit

Yeah. I'm doomed.

At least after work ends I can finally relax by sitting in the same chair playing video games and watching TV.

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deonteguy@reddit

Exactly. My company is talking about doing Seattle Hundreds again for another death march. I'm dreading this, and the last time I went through that I had a heart attack. For those not from Seattle that don't work in tech, that's 16 hours a day Monday through Thursday then 12 hours a day Friday through Sunday.

I've seen guys easily sit for over thirty six hours only getting up to make the loop from desk to bathroom to coffee without even eating. I have low insulin sensitivity so going more than a day without eating can be painful and make it hard to concentrate but good for my A1C. For example, after almost a year of working eighty hour weeks without a single day off, mine went from 7.3 to 5.7 which is excellent for someone my age and family history.

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K3rnW3rks@reddit

I’ll take things that didn’t happen for 100, Alex.

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zed857@reddit

Alex doesn't work here any more and 100 hasn't been a clue value in over 20 years.

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ninefourteen@reddit

I’ll take things I don't care about for 100, Alex.

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S0phon@reddit

So why did you do it?

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peligroso@reddit

You brought this onto yourself.

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Ok_Thanks_2@reddit (OP)

Oof, I felt that. 8 hours is basically just the warm up for that marathon 😂
Tho, I'm curious, how do you handle the body aches after you get so locked in for hours straight?

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MaDpYrO@reddit

It's not necessarily the act of sitting as much as those who sit so much often don't exercise at other times to offset their inactivity.

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phillipcarter2@reddit

This really needs to be the most upvoted comment. There's an enormous difference between someone who gets dedicated exercise 2-5 times a week (and a mix of it, not just jogging) with daily walks vs. someone who does none of these things. The latter group will almost certainly be at a higher risk of heart disease, physical pains to the point of needing knee surgery, and boatloads of other problems.

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NuttingWithTheForce@reddit

jokes on you, my cocktail of mental health disorders makes me feel too anxious to sit for more than an hour at a time anyway 😎

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DrummerOfFenrir@reddit

My ADHD has me sitting cross legged in my chair sometimes

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optimator_h@reddit

I too sit cross legged a significant portion of the day. And I’m diagnosed ADHD. And I’m a drummer. This is wild

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DrummerOfFenrir@reddit

I'm too lazy to get it soooo

spider-man-pointing.jpg

What kind of music do you like playing?

I love playing fast and listening to metal.

Eugene Ryabchenko is one of my favorites

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New_Independent5819@reddit

My ADHD has me finding any reason to walk away from my desk, so this works out I guess

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DrummerOfFenrir@reddit

Me too! Having a 3D printer in my garage sure ping-pongs me in and out of there. On the flip side, it makes me not sit forever.

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systemidx@reddit

I feel this. In more than one zoom meeting, I’ve had folks ask me if I’m doing dips on my chair while I’m adjusting myself.

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DrummerOfFenrir@reddit

My funny bone once dug into the arm rest bolt thru the pad while tilting my body to free my legs 😵

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Weak_Bowl_8129@reddit

I have seen a similar study that accounted for exercise, but 100% take it with a grain of salt

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notmsndotcom@reddit

Huberman had an episode that talked about this and that's what I remember too. Consistent walking & movement throughout the day is ideal. The key part IIRC was your soleus muscles provide key signals to the rest of your body: https://ai.hubermanlab.com/clip?sids=chunk_94993

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Toxonomonogatari@reddit

Same. I have some vague memory that exercise couldn't offset the risk associated with sitting too much. I never checked the source, though. I'd love to have that claim challenged properly.

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Ok_Thanks_2@reddit (OP)

That's a crucial distinction. You're right.

The real enemy is just being in any static/uninterrupted position for too long. For instance, sitting too much slows down the body's metabolic processes dramatically (like Fat-burning enzyme activities, insulin sensitivity etc). Our bodies are designed for dynamic movement and this is where the micro-movements comes in.

The big takeaway really is that "sit less" and "move more" are two separate and equally important pieces of the puzzle.

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FlowingWay@reddit

Please, don't use AI to speak for you.

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GeneralConsistent439@reddit

It's so unbelievably annoying. 'You're absolutely right' lol

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FlowingWay@reddit

The AI voice always deflects contradictions in a way that reveals no ego behind anything. No temperamental biases churning behind the facade. No introspection into overly specific personal issues that filters out into the speech. Just lazy verbal judo that's like talking to a happily nihilistic call center employee.

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2this4u@reddit

Speculation on your part is not science

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SSoreil@reddit

You are not going to science yourself in to being healthy king. If anything exercise science isn't a very serious field to begin with. Just put in some effort and don't try to optimize it.

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MaDpYrO@reddit

Correlation is not causation and there is loads of scientific evidence that people who sit a lot are healthy

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WarEagleGo@reddit

thanks for the reminder

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enc_cat@reddit

And I thought my risk of death was 100% anyway…

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isusuallywrong@reddit

I got an under desk walking pad last year and it has been a complete game changer. Basically tripled my daily step output. Dropped 15 pounds. Resting heart rate has gradually dropped. Blood pressure dropped. Drink more water because of it. And, at least from my perspective, no impact on my ability to type. Sometimes I think it even helps me lock in.

Drawbacks have been that I’ve burned through three pairs of shoes and my lower body (feet, hips, knees, low back) is tight to the point where it impacts my squats and deadlifts….but I’m also 40 and not really looking for PRs anymore.

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lqstuart@reddit

I keep hearing people rave about this stuff. How the hell do you work? I work in deep learning performance and 70-90% of my day is reading source code, academic papers and theorycrafting about how stuff is actually working because the code is not traceable (thanks, Ray actors). Even just standing, I can’t focus enough enough on this crap to actually do any of the work required. Otherwise I’d love to get one of those treadmills

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Pttrnr@reddit

i've been sitting 12 to 16 hours per day for the last 4 years. so far nothing happened :( even with diabetes and high blood pressure :(

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deadcream@reddit

Are you over 40 yet?

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Pttrnr@reddit

yes

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Cahnis@reddit

Is it really about sitting and not because people who sit 8 hours are more likely to be fat and/or not exercise?

I feel like most of these studies are based on survivor bias

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deadcream@reddit

You need at least one hour of continuous exercise every day. Not necessarily gym/strength training, just something to get your heart pumping. Most people whose jobs involve sitting all day don't meet that criteria. Even going to the gym several times a week is not enough, you need some kind of physical activity every day. And you don't need to get fat for many health risks to manifest themselves, the issue is the lack of movement itself (although obesity would exacerbate this too).

Also, just sitting for hours can still fuck you up if you do it incorrectly (by not watching your posture).

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Cahnis@reddit

Agree with everything you punctuated

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Herb_Derb@reddit

Guess I'll just stay in bed then

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Sharlinator@reddit

Unfortunately many if not most white-collar workers these days sit around 16 hours a day. Car/transit, office, again car/transit, then couch for the rest of the night, rinse and repeat.

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my_name_isnt_clever@reddit

At least with transit I'm forced into a half mile walk every morning instead of walking 10 feet from the door to the driveway.

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madbadanddangerous@reddit

Can we just abandon the 8 hour work day yet? I average 14.5 hours of meetings per day and need about 6 hours of head down work after that to do my job. Cut down on meetings and we could be working like 4 hours a day, or even less, with no loss of productivity. Yet we fill out calendars with pointless meetings and our jira tickets with bullshit and every simple decision requires 9 sign-offs, a spike or two, and a design doc

Just eliminate all this bullshit, let people work less, we will be happier, companies won't be hurt, and we can unchain ourselves from our desks, fast food, and depression holes

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Pitiful-Web-3431@reddit

I actually asked a doctor about this before. He said sitting for long periods does increase the risk of blood clots. His advice was to drink more water — not because the water itself helps, but because it makes you get up to use the bathroom more often.

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Gangsir@reddit

Did they do controls to make sure that it wasn't just "people who don't sit all the time are probably very physically active"?

Like we should be comparing people who sit all day vs people who stand (in place) all day if we want to determine if sitting (and not just general inactivity) is the cause of these problems.

Because if it is just sitting, "get a standing desk" would be an easy fix for desk job workers to be healthier.

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Ashamed-Simple-8303@reddit

One good thing of the centralize coffee / waterstation here. I have to walk down a long set of stairs to get there. Yeah I walk intentionally. I also walk to ask people stuff vs using chat/email. So thatway i try to avoid sitting longer than 1 hr at a time.

And then of course exercise outside of work incl stretching and corrective exercises (like face pulls, pull-ups, nerd neck looks terrible)

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Dean_Roddey@reddit

That ship already sank decades ago.

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terrorTrain@reddit

Keep in mind that a 17 to 50 percent increase is much less scary than it sounds.

If you had a 1 percent chance of death, and increase it by 17 percent, it's now 1.17 percent chance of death, not 18 percent as you may initially think. A 50 percent increase puts you at 1.5 percent.

So it's not great, but it's not like you're flipping a coin on living or dying based on chair sitting.

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ejectoid@reddit

My standup meeting takes 1 hour, I’ll be fine

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Stever89@reddit

I'm fucked. Been good knowing y'all.

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aqjo@reddit

Correlation =/= causation.
The only real way to prove something like this is to take, say, 1,000 people, have them sit 10 hours a day, see how long they live. Then take the same 1,000 people, have them not sit 10 hours a day (but everything else is the same, meals, tv, sex, everything), and see how long they live.
The true cause could be something related to sitting, drinking less water, peeing less often, constipation, depression, etc.

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andymaclean19@reddit

Worked from home for 5 years. Sat on backside all day. Some days had 200 steps. Had a heart attack after 4 years. Do a lot more exercise now. Article checks out IMO.

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notmsndotcom@reddit

This is why I only do remote work because I can act like I'm working but maintain my health by only working for 4hrs.

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BlueGoliath@reddit

Thanks, i'll use this next time I'm sitting sitting more than 8 hours a day.

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r0zina@reddit

The fact that the correlation is bigger in poorer countries tells you it’s not the sitting that is the issue, but probably the lifestyle that of the person.

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boltforce@reddit

Important to take breaks and it specifically says that It can be somewhat countered by physical activity. Let's get physical team, I work to live and not other way around.

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Ok_Thanks_2@reddit (OP)

"I work to live and not other way around" -- 100%. It's the perfect way to frame it. It's crucial just remembering to care for your wellbeing.

Speaking of physical activity? what's your go-to way to break up the workday?

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Vlyn@reddit

Dude, what is wrong with you? Why are you using AI for every reply?

Are you a spam bot?

Gross.

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boltforce@reddit

Personally I hit the gym, classic weight lifting. I try to get some cardio here and there also. I try to work out 2-4 times per week and kinda force myself to go, it's actually an amazing psycho therapy and helps distress alot.

This helps get you also in a good virtuous cycle concerning eat and sleep habits.

Lastly, a good tip I would like to mention is for people to push through the first 3 months and try to find a place that is close to home either walking distance or short ride( so you don't get excuses for skipping it).

Life is a b1tch but it is a beautiful b1tch and I wish to enjoy it as long as possible 😁

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It is not the act of sitting that's the problem here.

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AndiDog@reddit

My spine confirms

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nemesit@reddit

+50% on nearly nothing doesn't mean much