
Physical recovery from binge TV-watching gets harder as we get older - ALee
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/09/04/547580952/get-off-the-couch-baby-boomers-or-you-may-not-be-able-to-later
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raamdev
I work remotely 80-90 hours a week using my laptop (this is important: your
screen needs to be mobile). Here's how I currently try to keep my body moving:

\- I don't have a desk or chair. I have a bar table and a stool. This makes a
huge difference. I get uncomfortable sitting on the stool after about 30
minutes, so I get off. Then I'll stand at the bar table and work for an hour
or two. When I get tired of that, I'll spend a minute or two doing a physical
activity (see below).

\- I try to work from different physical places, e.g., cafes, different places
in the house when nobody is home, the steps outside, the floor, the hammock
hanging by the lake. I make it a game to come up with new and novel places to
work from that don't require a lot of travel time (unless I'm walking—then
it's well-spent travel time), anything to change the physical position of my
body while working (and hopefully something that gets uncomfortable within an
hour so I'm pushed to change again).

\- I have a sandbag next to the bar table that I'll pick up at random times
throughout the day and do squats, deadlifts, bent-over rows, or just carry the
60lb thing up the stairs or out around the yard once. I'll also use it as a
weight to hold my feet while I do sit-ups. I have a pull-up bar hanging
between two trees outside.

\- I don't watch TV. In fact, I try to avoid anything that involves the
sitting position. If I have to sit, I prefer the floor, or if I'm watching a
movie or reading a book, I prefer laying down. If it's something for a few
minutes and I can stand, I'll stand.

I've been doing this for about a year now and it's the best I've ever felt
while working this much. What I'd like to start mixing in are some runs or
long walks, but right now it's a choice between those or getting sufficient
sleep. I prioritize sleep.

~~~
bamboozled
"I work remotely 80-90 hours a week"

I think that's your problem right there, regardless of all the extra measures
you're taking, that's mental.

~~~
hycaria
Why are some people always suspicious of others who work a lot ? Genuine
question as I don't have this kind of sensibility it seems.

~~~
mtberatwork
Working 16+ hour days is not sustainable in the long term and is counter
productive. Usually when people say they work "80-90 hours a week" I take it
with a grain of salt.

~~~
raamdev
Working 80-90 hours a week remotely with the freedom to work from an
environment that you find relaxing is a lot different than working 80-90 hours
a week in an office or dealing every day with the stresses of traffic and
commuting. Yesterday I was laying in a hammock feeling the breeze come in off
the lake and listening to the birds while working on my laptop. I couldn't
work 80-90 hours a week if I didn't have the ability to look up from my laptop
and instantly feel relaxed.

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mewse
Though the headline does not say so, I presume that this 'toll' is only
contributed to by the prolonged sitting; the "binge TV-viewing" presumably is
only harmful to "ability to walk" inasmuch as it is correlated with an
increased amount of prolonged sitting.

One assumes that binge tv-viewing would take no toll on ability to walk (or
even be beneficial to it) if one was walking on a treadmill whilst watching
television?

~~~
randomfool
Reading a book is probably just as harmful to your ability to walk.

~~~
lloydde
Probably not. Books are not hypnotic to the same extend as multimedia or
interactive media.

~~~
greggman
I beg to differ. I've been far more addicted to a good page turner book than
I've ever been addicted to a TV show. And when I finally put the book down
10hrs later I can barely focus on anything further away than 20-30cm. With TV
I can also do other things not give it my full attention by checking email or
browsing the web but I can't do that with a book

~~~
DarkTree
I really envy your ability to get hypnotized by a book, and I've heard others
have similar binge reading sessions quite frequently. I love reading. I read
every morning and night, but I can only read for about an hour at a time. I do
read mainly non-fiction, and I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it.
However, I'm drawn towards non-fiction more, so wouldn't I prefer longer
reading sessions for the books I'm interested in the most?

~~~
TeMPOraL
My n=1 data point.

I read non-fiction and fiction books in similar amounts, but only the latter
trigger binge sessions for me. With non-fiction, my brain usually gets tired
after an hour or so, and I feel an urge to take a break. But with good fiction
books, I frequently ended up reading an entire series of books over a week,
with the only breaks being sleep, food prep, hygiene and the dayjob. Those
sessions were _more_ intense than binging TV series, which is something I am
prone to do too.

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torpfactory
As my wife (an ER nurse) says: "Motion is the lotion"...

But seriously: Keep moving folks! Immobility is a co-morbidity with so many
other illnesses. Find something you love to do that makes you move and keep at
it!

~~~
scottlegrand2
I phrase it "Stop moving, start dying."

~~~
jpm_sd
"Rest is rust" is my favorite phrasing

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program_whiz
Truism: Recovery from X gets harder as we get older.

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patrickg_zill
Yes, you need to walk some each day, like a mile or more, go up and down some
steps, etc.

There are muscles located between your butt and back, like the erectors and
the upper part of the gluteals. Exercise them and you will feel better.

Ignore the first part of the article, but do the first 4 exercises at least:
[https://www.t-nation.com/training/awaken-the-glute-
monster](https://www.t-nation.com/training/awaken-the-glute-monster)

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staticelf
I sit most of the days but I also take about 12-20k steps/day walking. So
basically whenever I don't sit around in front of a computer I move.

Is that really so bad? I mean you have to rest sometimes.

~~~
magic_beans
How much of those steps are real, physical exercise? This is the biggest
problem in American culture. No one actually exerts themselves physically.
Take a look at the legs of a Dutch grandmother. Rippling with muscle because
they bike every day, everywhere.

~~~
staticelf
At least 10k, walking my dog. But I also run about 2-3 times a week.

I am not american.

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keithpeter
>> _" When you have your own business, you have a little more flexibility,"
she says. "But I'll tell you one thing that's constant — that's eight hours,
at least, of looking at the screen and sitting in the chair."_ <<

Above quote is from the case study at the end of the article. Just wondering
about tablets/phones and moving people away from the PC with screen.

Anecdotal Observation 1: My daily journey involves a local train ride from a
large main station. The inquiry staff no longer sit at desks in a
counter/office. They have 'stands' around the concourse and use tablets to
query the national timetable system. The same people help with the barriers
when there are problems &c. They are moving most of the day.

Anecdotal Observation 2: Teaching: this time of year we are advising and
assessing large numbers of prospective students. Used to be rows of
PCs/monitors. Now again, tablets in use and colleagues just use their phones.
Far more mobile and a lot less queuing up to see people &c.

Just wondering about 'business logic' applications on a tablet? Just do your
stuff while walking about?

------
jdeisenberg
I'm curious to know if using a standing desk for four to five hours a day (but
not moving around much) is equally unhealthy.

~~~
wahnfrieden
Just look into literature on any standing occupation, not constrained to just
standing desks. There are plenty of hazards to take into account.

~~~
pipio21
I did a study of this for my University degree.

There is a significant standing up hazard for women: heels.

Heels long time use will deform your spine, your knee, changes the muscles
that are responsible for walking, and is responsible of more ankle sprains
than anything else.

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YorkianTones
According to this article, the study found those who watch 5 or more hours of
TV a day while sitting were 65% more likely to lose mobility in the period
tested than those who watch < 2 hours per day, controlling for all other
variables. I am skeptical the study was able to control for all other
variables. Maybe those who watch 5 or more hours of TV a day are less likely
to get activity during the day e.g. from taking the stairs, making dinner,
chores, etc. To be frank, these sound like exceptionally lazy humans. They may
be less likely to cook for themselves and eat healthy meals, or to take good
care of themselves in other ways also. It's hard to control a study like this
for all possible complicating factors. What is clear is that if you're sitting
and watching TV with all your free time instead of being active, that's
probably not healthy, but hey, it's your life.

~~~
Grustaf
> crash into your recliner for another three to four hours,

Sure it's lazy, but I'm asking myself how it's even possible. If you work full
time as in the example, how do you even squeeze in that much TV watching
between family and various chores.

~~~
MandieD
The study population was 50-71 years old - for most people, those are empty
nest years (no kids in the house), and far less likely to be doing unpaid
overtime to try to advance a career.

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jbb67
Even though I sit all day and most of the evening, my 40 minute commute is
mostly standing and walking, and I get up every half an hour or so to make a
cup of tea, or to stretch, or so look out of the window for a minute (it helps
my eyes...)

I'm hoping that's enough to make a difference

------
denvercoder904
What about sitting for eight hours straight and then doing a hard workout
afterwards? Is that still bad?

~~~
prdonahue
Yes, numerous studies have shown that workouts don't reverse the negative
health consequences of sitting. That being said, such workouts can definitely
help avoid (or at least reduce) other issues such as pain, e.g., by
strengthening glutes that are weakened by sitting, etc.

------
RA_Fisher
If it's a low baseline, a 65% increase might not be all that bad!:-p

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NEETcation
I once went on vacation for two weeks where I spent the entire day watching
TV. I watched more than 26 episodes of TV shows every day from 8AM to 11PM. I
could marathon through short shows within a day. I never regretted anything
other than poor streaming quality.

I never felt lonely because of the magic of the internet allowing me to watch
movies and TV shows with internet strangers as if it were movie night, the
entire day, everyday.

I regret nothing, except maybe the streaming quality and not making my own
clone of that proprietary service (rabb.it).

------
jasonkostempski
I sit most of the day but not to binge TV-view. Do I need to be concerned?

~~~
kemiller
Yes. Sitting all day at work is just as bad, though you are probably getting
up at certain intervals.

~~~
greyskull
I'm going to take a guess and saying your parent comment was being sarcastic.

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sattoshi
Sitting all day is bad for you? Huh..

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dleslie
From the it-ought-to-be-obvious department.

~~~
kemiller
I don't know how obvious that is a priori. If you asked a subsistence laborer
what the effects of sitting all day would have on their health you might get a
different answer.

~~~
jacobolus
Indeed, doing physical labor all day is also quite terrible for you. My
godfather was a farmer in rural Mexico and by his 50s his body was in pretty
bad shape.

~~~
rangibaby
And that's why your pension was set at 60 or 65, and why developed countries
are having a hard time paying for them. In the past physical work meant that
by the time people were old enough to collect their pension they were _worn
out_.

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sitepodmatt
It sounds obvious but certain countries seem to need the hot coffee warning. A
UK friend messaged me from Disneyland Florida yesterday with message 'Its
unbelievable the amount of people in electric buggies, its almost as if 25% of
population have given up on idea of walking'.

~~~
nradov
WALL-E world?

~~~
stevenwoo
In my experience a large percentage of people that are fat are in a scooter
and most of the older people are either on a scooter or in a wheelchair. It
definitely makes one _deja vu_ to WALL-E. If everyone was in a scooter they
would have to limit admissions even more, it's built to accommodate scooters
but not for everyone to be in a scooter, yet. The fireworks show would be a
total traffic jam without the mobility of walking. I used a fitness tracker
last time I went and a full day at Disneyland/California was about 16 miles of
walking.

~~~
nradov
Those places ought to require a doctor's note with a legitimate medical
problem (not just obesity) in order to use a motorized scooter.

~~~
jmull
It's always so nice when the FPH shows up. Thanks.

~~~
nradov
What's FPH?

~~~
always_good
Fat People Hate, in particular /r/fatpeoplehate which had to move to
[https://voat.co/v/fatpeoplehate](https://voat.co/v/fatpeoplehate).

The commenter of course launching it as an ad hominem at you.

~~~
jmull
No, not ad hominem because I'm not rebutting OP's argument, only expressing my
distaste the sentiment.

It's such a casually nasty thing to say, "We ought to make (easily
identifiable group X) (do something obnoxious/humiliating, not to mention
impractical)," that I don't like to let it pass.

