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Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults

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101–110 of 115 posts

Re: Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults

#101
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I've been socially and culturally conditioned to, and no matter how much I can rationally justify that what other people think doesn't matter (which isn't entirely true), that doesn't mean I can emotionally accept that without angst. Put another way, it's not rational to ignore how you think you will respond to social pressure just because you think you shouldn't respond that way to the pressure. The human mi…

I totally understand. I know it's irrational to care what others think, but I still do. That said, people are positive about it to me. Think about it: if you were at Costco and saw some random person jumping rope by a car, what would you think of that person? Would it be anything bad?

Well, given how busy my Costco generally is, and how hard it is to maneuver with the people pushing large carts through the parking lot, my thoughts would be mixed. Initially it might be along the lines of "hmm, there are places less likely to get in people's way to do that..." For a less busy parking lot, it would probably be much more positive.

That said, I'm encouraged by the positive responses you say you've gotten. Maybe I'll give this a try.

Re: Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults

#103

I changed my primary work goal 2 years ago. Now I try to minimize stress as the most important goal of the work day. I redefined my job; it now is to solve problems in the lowest stressful way. In other words, my employer is not paying me to kill myself. I walk 10 mins every 1 to 2 hours and use that time to review. I try to find ways to solve problems in ways that are more fun, easier, and effective. So to me a 10 m…

>After 50 mins working on something very difficult my mind gets so mucked up.

I am suddenly reminded of my college classes that were 50 mins on the dot, with 10 mins in between as travel time to get to the next class.

Re: Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults

#104
post #2

This should be obvious, however people still refuse to get up, and just walk around every hour for a minute. I spend a silly amount of time behind a computer, but I'll do 10-20 pushups / jumping jacks, every hour or so. After hours, I'll bang out six miles on the hiking trails. Get up, go get a drink, do a lap around the office. Get a stand/sit desk. Do some simple exercises. Pushups can be done anywhere, and will al…

Two habits that have changed my life: 1. Waking up early and reading something significant with my morning coffee. Usually something on philosophy or theology. Not looking at any screens until I'm at work. 2. Working out for an hour each day. It's like a switch: once I work out regularly, everything else falls into place. I eat better (because I don't want to lose the benefits of the 1 hour workout I just put in). I…

Fully agreed on the screens part. I've gone back to ditching the screen at night. Previously I'd want to read an electronic book, but would end up distracted with everything else. The upside to ditching the electronic screen is focus and general avoidance of the light prior to bed. While RedShift/NightLight modes are nice, I still notice a profound difference by dumping the phone an hour or so before I turn it in.

I think the other component we'll see questioned more and more over the coming years is the general questioning around homeostasis. I recently finished Scott Carney's: "What Doesn’t Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude and Environmental Conditioning Will Renew Our Lost Evolutionary Strength" and it was a great read. While the main premise of the book is Scott's initial mission to debunk the Wim Hof Method he delves into a lot of newer research and training that is centered around building up our bodies beyond traditional exercise.

Recently I read through comments on HN when the Bay area hit record highs and how people were cautioning of all of the bad things that would happen if one didn't seek A/C. It really hit home how many people are not acclimated, at all, to any level of extreme that other portions of the planet and people deal with on a daily basis. Just as we're sedentary, we're also not as capable to environmental adaptation - and I'll speculate this isn't good for us long term either. I've moved to 5+ minutes per shower of full cold and stopped using A/C in my vehicle, and more sparingly in my home. If you've never done the cold showers as a test to see what you're body is truly capable of - do it. It's amazing how you adapt in a short period of time. Also the clarity and anxiety reduction it brings to either the start or the end of the day is an understatement. Try it, it's cheap and takes no additional time out of your day if you're already showering anyway.

Re: Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults

#105
This shows a correlation between death, and reduced movement before death. Pardon the obvious!

You would expect that many of the 340 subjects who died might have died, rather than accidentally, due to some progressively deteriorating condition which reduced their movement for a substantial period of time; perhaps years.

We don't know whether the onset of death produced less mobility or vice versa.

A relationship between sedentary lifestyle and mortality requires a very long term study. Like following large number s of people from age 18 (if not earlier) onward, and correlating levels of physical activity with life span.

Re: Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults

#106
post #97
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that wouldn't result in me embarrassing myself in the Target/Costco/supermarket/work parking lot multiple times per week, I would actually be really interested in that approach.

Front load your jumping jacks, do 200 jumping jacks before driving to Costco. Or just park in the way way back.

Though I think one of the takeaways of this study and others is that frequent small breaks/exercise sessions are better than few big ones.

Re: Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults

#107
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My house had an office with a built in desk that made Varidesk a great option. I've wanted to lower it a couple of times but opted to push through for endurance sake.

Gotcha, that makes more sense. Having that much difference between the table and the desk surface seems clunky though and multiple monitors feels pretty weird. That's why I ended up just getting a table.

I got the dual monitor mount on the back too.

Re: Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults

#108

I changed my primary work goal 2 years ago. Now I try to minimize stress as the most important goal of the work day. I redefined my job; it now is to solve problems in the lowest stressful way. In other words, my employer is not paying me to kill myself. I walk 10 mins every 1 to 2 hours and use that time to review. I try to find ways to solve problems in ways that are more fun, easier, and effective. So to me a 10 m…

I walk 10 mins every 1 to 2 hours and use that time to review. I try to find ways to solve problems in ways that are more fun, easier, and effective. So to me a 10 min break is a work requirement. Ah, the old Walk-n-Talk meeting style. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WalkAndTalk If I could get Alan Sorkin's endorsement I'd sell it as a work out routine and make millions.

For breaks, I find letting my thoughts drift to be important. In fact, I try to avoid thinking about my work doing many of my walks/breaks (sometimes I can't help it though).

Doing a bit of low-key mindfulness and slowing my breathing has been very helpful as well.

Re: Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults

#109
Using a standing desk leaning against the wall is surprisingly comfortable. I wish someone made a product out of it. This kickstarter comes close, but the project has no update since 2 years ago: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1133385494/leanchair-th...

Re: Sedentary Behavior and Mortality in U.S. Middle-Aged and Older Adults

#110

10 minutes is a high bout duration for sedentarism? Wow. Where did they find the group with low bout duration then? That would mean having meals standing up, not driving or commuting 10 minutes or more, not watching even a 20-minute TV program, etc.

I've purchased a stationary bike that I'll go on basically any time that I watch TV. I can't imagine just sitting down for 20 or 40 minutes to watch TV anymore.
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