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How Your Office job is Affecting Your Metabolism:
The idea that long bouts of uninterrupted sitting might be bad for your health has gotten lots of attention over the past decade. The reason may seem obvious: If you’re sitting all the time, you’re not exercising. But emerging evidence suggests that there’s a deeper connection between sedentary time and lack of exercise, with the combination of both worse than either one on its own.
In a new study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers at the University of Texas show that four days of prolonged sitting induces a state that they call “exercise resistance.”
They had 10 volunteers complete two four-day protocols that involved sitting around for more than 13 hours a day while taking fewer than 4,000 steps. At the end of one of the four-day periods, they did a vigorous one-hour treadmill workout.
Normally a one-hour workout would produce a set of metabolic benefits that persist for at least a day. Your insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance, both of which are associated with heart health, improve immediately. And your postprandial lipemia – the rise in triglycerides circulating in your blood after a fatty meal, which may contribute to blocked arteries – will be attenuated.
But when the researchers fed their volunteers a high-fat, high-sugar slurry of melted ice cream and half-and-half creamer the next day, their blood sugar, insulin and triglyceride levels shot up by the same amount regardless of whether they’d exercised the night before. After all the sitting, their workout no longer packed its usual health punch.
If exercise after extended sitting didn't help, why bother exercising?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:12AM (2 children)
I tell them, you are going to die young because of this! Nobody listens. And I see them ageing horribly -- while I feel so young and FULL OF ENERGY. I call it, high energy. I'll tell you, I was the best baseball player in New York -- until I wised up. All my friends who work out all the time, they're going for knee replacements, hip replacements. They're a disaster. They get their new knees when they're 55 years old and they get their new hips and they do all those things. I don't have those problems. I do a MAGA Rally, I'm standing there for a couple of hours giving one of my incredible speeches. Taking in the applause. That's what I call exercise!!!
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:19AM
"And I see them ageing horribly -- while I feel so young and FULL OF ENERGY."
A damned shame you certainly don't look it.
(Score: 4, Touché) by DannyB on Wednesday March 27 2019, @02:40PM
Using your remote control qualifies as exercise. I'm sure you can find a surgeon general who will agree.
If you're staying tuned to FoxNews all the time, then you're not getting your exercise.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @11:59AM (2 children)
4 days with no exercise then 1 hour of treadmill?
The solution is clear:
More porn and more fapping. It will boost your circulation and lower your blood pressure, and also
boost the circulation of your ISP.
Porn - its what the Internet is for!
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday March 27 2019, @02:42PM (1 child)
It's just pr0n. No need to get so excited about it. Get a hold of yourself already!
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 3, Funny) by ilsa on Wednesday March 27 2019, @05:15PM
https://wompwompwomp.com/ [wompwompwomp.com]
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday March 27 2019, @12:12PM (8 children)
... or walk, or run
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Wednesday March 27 2019, @01:26PM (4 children)
Lunch hour workout is where its at. A nice shower after the workout "resets the clock" mentally so I only work half days, admittedly two per day, but it feels nice.
From the article:
Starbucks, just call it friggin Starbucks.
(Score: 2) by Snow on Wednesday March 27 2019, @03:06PM (3 children)
How do you have time to work out, shower, and then get ready for the afternoon? What about actually eating?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @05:42PM
He's a Very Large Man, walking to lunch IS the workout! You try carrying an extra 100lbs to the deli and see how tired you get.
(Score: 2) by rleigh on Wednesday March 27 2019, @08:25PM (1 child)
5k run is 25 mins max, 5 mins to shower and 30 mins to eat lunch. I do it all the time within my lunch hour and still do 8 hours of work.
(Score: 2) by Snow on Wednesday March 27 2019, @08:55PM
Good on ya man!
I blow dry and style my hair. That takes 5 mins right there. Plus changing twice.
I suppose I could still do it, and should do it...
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday March 27 2019, @02:44PM (2 children)
Cycling. About that . . .
The Windows Support guy said I should Power Cycle my server at least twice a day.
But I told him I don't even own a bike.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 3, Funny) by PiMuNu on Wednesday March 27 2019, @03:15PM (1 child)
He told me to boot my PC and now I have sore toes.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday March 27 2019, @03:24PM
And that server is too heavy for the bike's flimsy construction. If I can't peddle very far, then the server won't get as much fresh air.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday March 27 2019, @12:13PM (10 children)
One hour isn't going to do shit. Now taking up renovating a church into a home and doing most of the labor yourself? That will get your metabolism up. Seriously, who the hell thinks you can put in one ninety-sixth of your time as exercise and see any noteworthy benefit?
Humans didn't evolve for ass-sitting. Either get up and do significant amounts of physical things too or live with the consequences.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @01:10PM (1 child)
Humans didn't evolve for ass-sitting.
Speak for yourself. Personally, I am highly optimised for arse sitting - I have had many years of practice, and I am getting very good at it!
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday March 27 2019, @01:28PM
Exactly. How much practice did it take you to achieve excellence? I know it's taken me decades to get my third-degree black belt in Couch Fu.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Wednesday March 27 2019, @01:42PM (1 child)
Even sparse exercise will help maintain a certain minimum level of muscle capability. If you're someone who never runs, and you decide to dash around the block one day, you'll probably have sore ankles for a while. But if you do that every week, you won't have that soreness every time. Same for any other activity working muscles that you don't normally use. The first long swim of the season will probably result in sore shoulders, subsequent outings not so much. Or going to the gym and doing some of the more awkward lifts like leg adduction or deltoid raise.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:29PM
Gyms build pretty muscle but they're useless compared to doing actual work aside from getting to do cardio in the air conditioning. Pull some wire, do some gardening, push mow the lawn if you have one, even volunteer to pick up trash on the highway but do something useful with all those calories that works more than one muscle at a time in unnatural ways.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Wednesday March 27 2019, @04:15PM (3 children)
I can't speak for metabolism, heart health, insulin resistance, etc.... but an hour a week total of exercise is enough to maintain modest amounts of muscle mass and levels of fitness. It won't fly for an athlete or bodybuilder, but if the distance you can run and the amount of weight you can lift is below elite levels it doesn't take much to keep it at that point.
More concretely, I can manage in the low 20s for good pushups (I'm morbidly obese). I define good pushup as "lift hands between repetitions to be certain you don't cheat on range of motion". If I don't do pushups at all for three months, that number drops into the high single digits. If I do a set of pushups twice a week or even just three times every two weeks, it stays in the 20s.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:39PM (2 children)
I apparently was badly out of shape compared to myself in my late teens to early 20s. The renovations are kicking my ass worse than boot camp ever did. The work's so taxing that I stay right on the ragged edge of muscle failure from about dawn till about dusk, but full body rather than just arms, chest, or stomach. Not having downtime for any of the muscles to repair themselves actually has me weaker than when I started, though that'll change as soon as I get a weekend off.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Thursday March 28 2019, @11:16AM (1 child)
Kids have both the higher physical resiliency of their age and also far more free time to run around, play games, and otherwise exercise. I was starting to get back into shape a year or so back but my wife developed some medical problems so my 50% of the housework and ferrying kids around to orthodontist, sports, dance, and so forth shifted to 75%. Now I'm lucky to hit an hour of exercise a week.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday March 28 2019, @11:23AM
Housework ain't much but it's a whole lot better than sitting at a desk. At least you're standing and moving around.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday March 27 2019, @04:56PM (1 child)
Are you going to call it "Alice's Restaurant"?
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:33PM
You know, it hadn't even occurred to me. I listen to the song every Thanksgiving but when I think of folks living in a church, I think of my grandmother who bought one back in the 70s.
It's getting the full on house treatment. Leaving the hardwood floor in what's currently the sanctuary and going heavy on medium to dark hardwoods for everything we can think of; especially the library.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday March 27 2019, @01:29PM (1 child)
How do you even do that? Like when I'm suffering from the flu sitting on my couch watching star trek reruns all day I can achieve that, but its rare.
Even "work at home" I do more exercise than that BEFORE I hit the local gym at lunch hour.
I don't really remember the days before children; perhaps after the empty nest I'll experience a sub 4K step day.
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Wednesday March 27 2019, @05:20PM
That's why it was an experiment. They were (presumably) trying to go to an extreme in order to make any effects more obvious.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday March 27 2019, @01:43PM (3 children)
My extensive years of gym experience backed by fit bit heart rate monitoring is more than a half hour of elliptical hurts my legs for the rest of the day and I get higher and longer heart rate elevation from weight lifting circuit training. Admittedly someone starting out pressing 45 pounds isn't going to get quite the heart rate elevation of three sets of six reps at 200 pound OHP. Or multiple sets of 400 pound leg press, or 240 on the leg extension machine. Note that I'm a lazy bastard not trying to compete with anyone, and a serious lifter can reach those numbers in maybe one year, so its not like it requires a super hero effort.
I would think an hour on a treadmill would really hurt my legs. I can hike for hours in the wilderness (I'll get foot blisters long before my leg joints hurt); the precise eternal exact repetition of a treadmill sounds painful. It seems like the whole "cardio-industrial complex" is focused around generating orthopedic and PT revenue from repetitive strain injuries, rather than health.
I suppose the same people who lied about the ideal weight loss diet being hyper high carb, which lead to victims being really fat and type-II, might have also been lying that the best cardio is some joint-destroying aerobics shit, that scientific observation shows doesn't work instead of good healthy weight lifting.
Don't even get me started on the weird stuff I've seen crossfiters do at my gym. Its a meme that any time someone does something stupid like run backwards on the treadmill, "they must be doing crossfit".
We're the most gas-lit generation ever, not even counting political stuff, I guess.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Wednesday March 27 2019, @04:23PM (2 children)
200 pound OHP in one year? Maybe you know something I don't. I get to 60-65 pounds in each hand in dumbbell OHP and all progress stops dead. I'm trying again with a 5x5 program because it's the only game in town (that is, the modest progress I get from it beats the less modest or zero progress I get from everything else), but I'm not optimistic.
On the other hand 400 pound leg press and 240 on leg extension isn't that ambitious, but to be fair that depends on the machine/sled you're using. I managed those before without much effort. But again, maybe the machines I used were different.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @06:56PM (1 child)
Free weight vs. Bar is a huge difference with pressing, but you're probably hitting a wall from not training your core enough. Having a strong core and legs to keep you stable will help a lot with pressing. Hang cleans will help build that whole chain of muscles nicely. You also might want to try some isolation-type weights focusing on the other muscles in the shoulders and upper back, because it's common for them to be underdeveloped when sticking with basic weight routines.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Wednesday March 27 2019, @07:19PM
My arms are two different lengths due to a birth defect, so deadlifts, any kind of clean, and basically anything with a barbell except squats causes problems with my back or costochondritis (inflammation of the cartilege between ribs, which is not the same as muscle soreness) or both. I'll keep the rest of what you said in mind, though. Thanks.