Sitting

I sit a lot more than I used to.  In spite of a sedentary career of computer coding, I always managed to take a daily walk – not for health as much as happiness. But now I quite enjoy hanging out on the couch. 

Alarming “new studies” come out periodically of how awful a sedentary lifestyle can be. Typically these ” scientific researches” include a big group of people tracked over a fairly short time – say a thousand folks over 20 years is the best case. 

Results are prepared on outcomes for the whole bunch. Hardly even a breakdown by age, weight, height, diet, job, or any of a thousand other factors. And, to be honest, for that reason many of them seem to be useless. And that is before panic laid-in statistics along the line of “sitting 4 hours a day triples risk of heart attack.” Not mentioning perhaps that for a 30-year-old the risk “triples” from 0.1% to 0.3%. Nor if said adult stuffs himself with Twinkies daily and binge drinks on weekends. 

I’ve always paid attention to my body, always gave heed to common sense, and all in all reasonable activity has seemed a good thing. But a senior who does not sit a good part of the day is, in my experience, a freak who has bigger issues than a sedentary lifestyle.