This is amazing. Sitting for prolonged periods *shuts down* a key enzyme involved in fat burning, plus, when you're sitting fat accumulates in the whatever-you-call-it tissues where it accumulates rather than remaining in blood to go the muscles.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Dye...3922069&page=1

This goes far beyond just less activity when sitting, but shows that sitting induces metabolic changes that make fat accumulate. This is probably a big factor in the obesity epidemic.

So, truly, GET OFF YOUR FAT RUMPUS RECTUS!! Rather than sitting around all day at that desk job, stand up and move around a little.

-Richard

You are speaking for yourself...?

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they had to do a study to figure this out?
the human body has a habit of figuring out what parts get used the most, and making them stronger while making the unused parts weaker.
don't use your legs or arms? they will get weak. don't get the heart rate up every once in awhile? the heart gets weaker.
sit on your butt all day, and it adds a cushion.
the human body is an amazing thing..

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Seriously, what the hell? This has been common knowledge for a really long time...

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Here's another one:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1119130734.htm

I don't think it's been common knowledge that sitting shuts down the enzymes repsonsible for fat burning. That's one of the big things here. Yes, when you're sitting around you are not exercising and therefore aren't burning as much fuel.

However, this goes beyond that. Standing around idle is better than sitting around idle. Stand up, and that enzyme activity ramps back up. Apparently, even if you exercise well for an hour every day, if you sit for the rest of the day, you're still liable to get fat or not be able to loose it. That's what this is about.

Sitting down apparently sends a signal to "store fat, don't burn it", while standing up switches to "burn fat" mode.

Sitting for hours on end has become part of the modern lifestyle, and according to that study, that's not too good, even if you otherwise exercise and eat well.

-Richard

Well, okay, yea. Suppose a difference exists.

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ok, fine, they know HOW the body does something it does, but we've always known what the end result is. and that, ultimately, is all that really matters.
i'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the only reason this "study' was made public is because we are going to get the pleasure of seeing ads on tv in a short time about some wonder drug that alleviates some of the symptoms of FAS (Fat "butt" Syndrome), with only a few mildly disgusting but definitely humorous side effects.
I'm still trying to figure out where Restless Leg Syndrome came from, and now this.

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Oh, there was nothing about a fat rump specifically in this. That was just my attempt at humor -- sitting on your rear end tends to make you fat, so get off of it. And this is just deposting fat in general. It may be on your rear or somewhere else. There is nothing here about sitting on your rump makes it fat specifically. That was just me using the fairly common "fat butt" to mean fat in general.

And this looks like fine research to me -- not any wonder drug pushing agenda with leaky anal discharge that I can see. And no scare tactics like "Cheerios will kill you! Stop eating them!" The only agenda here seems to be looking at why we're getting so fat.

But yes, that's a common tact of drug companies. Sponsor studies and trials that find some great crisis level problem that will be cured by their new product just about to hit the streets. Or you have some big money maker about to go off patent, so you gin up some new use for it that will keep it on patent for a bit longer. Helps prime Wall Street to think a new market is about to be exploited and hopefully gins up demand.

These newer sleep drugs are a classic example of that, now that you've brought it up. Some "institute of sleep study" puts out some stuff about millions and billions of people suffering from sleep problems, and some new drug is just the ticket. Of course, said institute was funded by the drug companies, and, looking at the actual clinical data in a reasonable light showed they were not significantly better than the old sleeping pills. More expensive, though, just not that much better. And then after that the new wonder drug is on the market for while, you find out about the side effects that didn't show up the studies. Extreme sleep walking type behavior -- stuff like "sleep driving".

But I don't see anything that looks like that here. Seems like some pretty good research that shows something that explains a lot. Message seems pretty good. Don't sit around for prolonged periods. Stand up, stretch, putter around.......

-Richard

From Publius' link:How exactly does a rat sit down? They have essentially no buttocks.

StillThat's a BIG change over a short time. Likely too fast to account for with protein turnover. It seems possible that there's an as yet unknown lipase inhibitor floating around the blood stream.

Here's a good article on those sleeping pills:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/he...=1&oref=slogin

Note "not much better" than the older classes and not even that much better than a friggin' placebo. But people *think* they work. May even be a little amensia effect there (like like that famous amesia anethestic). They just forget they had trouble getting to sleep.

And the note the paid experts still say that's a good thing. Well, if they think our $3.50 a pop pill is doing them good, well that's a good thing and we're doing the Lord's work here.

I have to drive (and sit for a lot) often for hours. No microwaves. I just want to eat a fast burger and go to bed.

All the worst thing you can do. But schedules dictate. If I were independantly wealthy I could have a cook serve healthy meals, work out like the hollywood stars.

In short, poverty kept poor people thin in the past, while wealth gave folks gout.

Now its the rich people who can afford to be thin and poor folk pork up due to schedules and such...

Love it!

So, how exactly is a modern human being supposed to live a modern life without sitting down for long periods of time? I'm clueless as to how I might do this.

- Maha Vailo

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The Warp Point, my new geek culture blog.

That is interesting!

It may explain something I personal experienced over the last 15 months.

I am 185 cm tall (about 6' 7/8") and weighin 125 kg (275 lbs) which is way to much.
Until Nov. 2006 I had an office job. Part of my responsibilities was to check the production of special equipment in our work shop. This made me standing up about 10 times a day in average to go to the production, control things talk to the boss off the machine shop and so on.
Usually you do that by standing and discussinga and so on. I had half an hour to travel from home to the company. Usually this meant I left haouse at 7:30 and returned at 19:30. I was to tired to do anything like exercising or whatever.

Then I changed job, now I am more or less sales only. I am travelling a lot in the car and if not travelling I am working from home office. When working from home office, I can work 10 hours a day and still be at home at 17:30 (which is obvious, because I am at home already). The difference now is I AM SITTING ALL THE TIME (and have noc chance to change that), but also because I changed the job, and on 2 days a week I am home early enough in the evening I decided also to start exercising. So I go swimming at least 3 times a week (no self delusion, the number is for real).
I swim breast stroke, 1000 meter, usually between 24 - 28 minutes depending on the "traffic" in the pool.

First: I am fitter, I feel better, and I noticed that the muscles (underneath the fat ) are in much better shape.
BUT I HAVEN'T LOST AN INCH ON THE WAIST. Still the same 42" 36" Levi's size.
I always was thinking this can't be. So now I may have an explanaition.
Thanks publius for the link.

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Andre

"They did not know it was impossible, so they did it!"
Mark Twain

Well, when I was moving furniture for a living I had to take in roughly 6000 calories a day to maintain a constant 225lbs. If I took in a normal caloric load my body weight would fall below 200 and large precision lifts and endurance would be impacted. Some folks think I'm being facitious when I say, "I've found its a lot easier to pick something up when you weigh at least half as much as it does." Though I was referring to a two man lift at the time. (Due to the "reverse fulcrum" effect, two fit men can lift an object that individually they couldn't lift half the weight of.)

And guys who are leaner tend to burn out after about 8 hours of heavy labor and are usually all in after ten. And big move jobs can often go on for 12 to 13 hours. In some cases for days on end. (I moved the SF base for Random House Books once. It was actually too big a move for the company I was working for at the time. Took four days. Everybody including the accountants were out there humping boxes and I still had to work back to back 20 hour shifts followed by a 18 and a last 13 hour shift. So, with some exceptions, good movers tend to be built like tree stumps or they burn out fast.


(Whoa, was that anywhere near the subject or am I babbling again?)

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Science fiction was never meant to be an educational tool. - Editor Amazing Tales

Well, close. Stump and rump are just a couple of letters different.

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