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Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

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Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#131

Post by usaphp »

trhway wrote: post #129
winter_blue wrote: post #123

I work on personal projects, read HN, or do other things on my computer while I'm at home. I'm sitting at a desk and using my computer for 12+ hours a day. I rarely ever exercise, or even move my body much besides my fingers. This is really terrible news for people like me.

get a sit/stand desk. Even better if it is with treadmill. I only wish i started to work standing 10-15 years ago instead of just the last couple of years.

It's not about getting a treadmill desk or sit/standing desk, it's about forcing yourself to actually use it. I have a standing desk with a treadmill under it, most of the time I just find an execuse to sit, and do not turn on treadmill...however when I force myself I really do feel great and much more energized

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#132

Post by sn9 »

JamesBarney wrote: post #130
sn9 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Barbell training (e.g., presses, squats, deadlifts, etc.) 2+ days per week to the point that you can deadlift twice your bodyweight or more. Get to the point of being able to do 30 pullups in a row. Running 30 minutes or more 3+ days per week until you can run a 5k in less than 20 minutes. (Any form of cardio is acceptable and has an equivalent distance and pace.) The above are goals that are achievable for most peop…

Pull up amount seems like a lot. Where did you get that number?

Again, arbitrary. But still doable provided intelligent programming.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#133

Post by fapjacks »

winter_blue wrote: post #123

I work on personal projects, read HN, or do other things on my computer while I'm at home. I'm sitting at a desk and using my computer for 12+ hours a day. I rarely ever exercise, or even move my body much besides my fingers. This is really terrible news for people like me.

Do you even lift? It's really easy to start, and it's really easy to get caught up in the habit. It sounds implausible, but I became a much better programmer after I started lifting weights every day.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#134

Post by bbarn »

Question1101 wrote: post #79

What's the best exercise just to stay healthy? And what frequency? I would hate to exercise for years just to find out it actually harmed my health.

Ride a bicycle to work, or the equivalent 45 minutes a day, 4 out of 5 days a week. Lower impact cardio than most other forms, fun, effective transportation, and if you want to turn it into an anaerobic intensity workout, you can.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#135

Post by usaphp »

sn9 wrote: post #117
Question1101 wrote: post #79

What's the best exercise just to stay healthy? And what frequency? I would hate to exercise for years just to find out it actually harmed my health.

Barbell training (e.g., presses, squats, deadlifts, etc.) 2+ days per week to the point that you can deadlift twice your bodyweight or more. Get to the point of being able to do 30 pullups in a row. Running 30 minutes or more 3+ days per week until you can run a 5k in less than 20 minutes. (Any form of cardio is acceptable and has an equivalent distance and pace.) The above are goals that are achievable for most peop…

Running 5k under 20 minutes is not an achievable goal for most people over 30...I play soccer twice a week and so weight lifting, am in pretty good shape and tried to run 5k in under 20 minutes and just could not, spent like half a year running almost every other evening and the best I could get was 21:20. And it's definitely not easily maintained...

Also 30 pull ups is not an easily achievable number...my friend who is was a gymnast for like 15 years can barely do 25-30...

Don't give people unrealistic goals, they will just feel much worse and stop trying when they realize that they could not achieve those "easy target"...

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#136

Post by ironmagma »

winter_blue wrote: post #123

I work on personal projects, read HN, or do other things on my computer while I'm at home. I'm sitting at a desk and using my computer for 12+ hours a day. I rarely ever exercise, or even move my body much besides my fingers. This is really terrible news for people like me.

It's never too late to start exercising. :-)

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#137

Post by jack9 »

sn9 wrote: post #120
adventured wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much of your aunt's outcome was genetic predetermination? I'd wager the majority of it. You either have genetics that are tilted toward extreme longevity, or you don't. If you don't, nothing you can do will get you to 100.

Sounds more like a wager based on rationalizing laziness than a wager informed by knowledge of the research on the factors that contribute to longevity. So what if she has the genes? You have no information indicating whether or not her active lifestyle added 1 year or ten or twenty or zero. We do know that the research shows a causal relationship between activity level and longevity.

> than a wager informed by knowledge of the research on the factors that contribute to longevity.

Not the longevity that gets you to 100. The stats on centennials shows it's genetics. - see the Forbes article covering the people studying it.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#138

Post by bbarn »

pafje wrote: post #128
NumberCruncher wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who know that I commute at good weather by bike and at bad weather walking (2*70 minutes a day) say I am crazy. People who see my code (I am writing PL/SQL for my living) say that my solutions are crazy simple and efficient. They don't know that all my good ideas came after 45-60 minutes of walking and because of this I always have a pen and paper in my pocket.

Same thing for me here (and for most people who commute by bike every day). The increased blood flow must help or something like that. Physical activity is about so much more than losing weight.

I think it's also the removal of the constant stimuli competing for your attention with other forms of transportation. If you take a train, you're probably looking at your phone, or trying to catch up on something on your laptop en route. If you drive, you're likely listening to music, ads on the radio, an npr piece talking about something you like, etc.

Being on a bike, your priorities shift to keeping yourself alive occasionally, but mostly just thinking while moving forward. It's generally a good place to solve problems for me too.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#139

Post by gukov »

pafje wrote: post #128
NumberCruncher wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who know that I commute at good weather by bike and at bad weather walking (2*70 minutes a day) say I am crazy. People who see my code (I am writing PL/SQL for my living) say that my solutions are crazy simple and efficient. They don't know that all my good ideas came after 45-60 minutes of walking and because of this I always have a pen and paper in my pocket.

Same thing for me here (and for most people who commute by bike every day). The increased blood flow must help or something like that. Physical activity is about so much more than losing weight.

Amazing what happens when you stop bombarding your brain with social media and other screen time. The brain is probably getting less blood when exercising as muscles need it more.

Re: Too much sitting, too little exercise may accelerate biological aging

#140

Post by lennelpennel »

Question1101 wrote: post #79

What's the best exercise just to stay healthy? And what frequency? I would hate to exercise for years just to find out it actually harmed my health.

My advice would be to incorporate it as part of your everyday life. Cycle to work, if you live far, get a battery assisted bike. I am a massive fan of yoga as well, the general and core strength you need for that is incredible along with keeping your body limber (which helps fighting injuries and just generally helps with people sitting a lot).

Get in a pool and just go as fast as you can, for as long as you can. Take a short break, repeat. Do this for 15 minutes a day and you will experience a massive difference in your life. High intensity training is very good and a pool exercises a lot of muscles, great cardio and very little strain on your body.

Aim for 20 minutes each day, 5 days a week.

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