'Active' Sitting Is Better For Brain Health (sciencealert.com) 40
alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: A systematic review of 85 studies has now found good reason to differentiate between 'active' sitting, like playing cards or reading, and 'passive' sitting, like watching TV. [...] "Total sitting time has been shown to be related to brain health; however, sitting is often treated as a single entity, without considering the specific type of activity," explains public health researcher Paul Gardiner from the University of Queensland in Australia. "Most people spend many hours sitting each day, so the type of sitting really matters ... These findings show that small everyday choices -- like reading instead of watching television -- may help keep your brain healthier as you age."
Across numerous studies, Gardiner and colleagues found that active sitting activities, like reading, playing card games, and using a computer, showed "overwhelmingly positive associations with cognitive health, enhancing cognitive functions such as executive function, situational memory, and working memory." Meanwhile, passive sitting was most consistently associated with negative cognitive outcomes, including increased risk of dementia. The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
Across numerous studies, Gardiner and colleagues found that active sitting activities, like reading, playing card games, and using a computer, showed "overwhelmingly positive associations with cognitive health, enhancing cognitive functions such as executive function, situational memory, and working memory." Meanwhile, passive sitting was most consistently associated with negative cognitive outcomes, including increased risk of dementia. The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
I don't know how people sit for hours at a time (Score:4, Insightful)
After about 30 mins I need to stand up , stretch, maybe take a short walk around the office or the house, otherwise I just get uncomfortable with very occasional leg cramp.
Re: I don't know how people sit for hours at a tim (Score:2)
Not a great attention span, mate. Or if your work is not engaging, find a new job.
Re: I don't know how people sit for hours at a ti (Score:2)
Re: I don't know how people sit for hours at a t (Score:2)
Yeah, disruptions at work were a big problem for me at one point. Now I got into a working routine where for every non-meeting hour I spend 50 minutes doing focused work, 5 minutes replying to messages and 5 minutes recharging. My teammates got used to it pretty quickly and my managers got convinced when they saw how much actual value I started delivering in exchange for longer response time.
Re: (Score:1)
Or maybe I'm just better at it than you and don't have sit staring blankly at a screen for hours to get work done. Plus a short walk often helps with thinking about problems, maybe give it a try sometime instead of sitting next to that empty pizza box and coke can.
Re: I don't know how people sit for hours at a ti (Score:1)
Thinking about problems is great if you've got a though one and need some mental space to solve it. But while you walk, you don't actually solve any problems - you just think about it.
Perhaps it's your personality trait or just the kind of work you do, that you can or prefer thinking over doing. Some of us, most notably the autistic spectrum people can get super excited when thinking about a problem but their enthusiasm quickly dwindles when they've found a solution and it's time to implement it. I believe
Re: (Score:2)
So thinking about problems doesn't help to solve them? Thats certainly an opinion I've not come across before.
I've no idea what you do for a living but you're certainly a 1st class straw man creator.
Re: I don't know how people sit for hours at a ti (Score:2)
Software engineer. In my world knowing the solution doesn't change the fact that you've still got to implement it and move it all the way to production, and that requires focused hours at my desk.
Re: (Score:2)
I've been doing development - sorry, software engineering - since the 90s and almost all the single man projects I've done are completed early. I guess I'm just better at it than you if you can't even take a coffee or piss break for hours at a time.
Re: (Score:2)
I actually love sitting on very hard chairs haha. Give me a wooden chair any day. Ergonomic chairs are too soft for my peasant bottom.
Re: (Score:2)
After about 30 mins I need to stand up , stretch, maybe take a short walk around the office or the house, otherwise I just get uncomfortable with very occasional leg cramp.
Same here. I had both hips replaced last year and they get very stiff if I sit for more than 30-45 minutes.
Re: (Score:2)
After about 30 mins I need to stand up , stretch, maybe take a short walk around the office or the house, otherwise I just get uncomfortable with very occasional leg cramp.
Enforced sitting. School and desk jobs teach us to sit in one place for hours at a time. And if you don't actively fight it when you aren't attending school or the job, you fall into that as a habit that you can't break. I have to actively try to do upright things as much as possible outside of work or I fall into the habit of driving home, making supper, then just sitting in a chair until I conk out.
Re: (Score:2)
Yep! When I was younger like a young adult, teen, callow, etc., I didn't have this problem. As an old fart, my body hates to physically idle. :(
Oh really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Who would have thought that doing brain-engaging things is better for you than just sitting idle. Sitting is just means to an end. Did we really need a study for this?
Re: (Score:2)
It happens all the time, somebody does some eyecatching behavioral study and it makes the rounds as the next new fascinating thing that 'science' has discovered, and then subsequent studies fail to replicate or find it was only true for a certain subpopul
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but those "follow up studies" are extremely important. If they weren't done, the original finding would stand.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but those "follow up studies" are extremely important. If they weren't done,
then they would not be able to collect all the money for those redundant and pointless studies.
Correlation is not causation. (Score:2)
Correlation is not causation. Always immediately repeat this to yourself whenever any news report contains "x associated with y".
If your brain is fucked up, will you play card games, use a computer, read, or will you watch some TV?
Power-saving mode (Score:5, Funny)
I'm not sitting idly, I'm entering power-saving mode, you insensitive clod!
Re:Power-saving mode (Score:4, Funny)
Circulation is more important for brain health (Score:2)
You're dying a little bit every day you sit on your butt impairing your circulation which in turn compromises the blood supply to your brain.
No article should make you think that a clever made up term like "active sitting" is in any way healthy. A healthy mind and body is one that is not sitting around but out and about engaging with the real world physically.
Re: (Score:2)
You're dying a little bit every day you sit on your butt impairing your circulation which in turn compromises the blood supply to your brain.
Bad news - you are dying a little bit every day whether you sit, or if you run a marathon, while doing intense mental activity. 8^)
No article should make you think that a clever made up term like "active sitting" is in any way healthy.
I had the same reaction. When I first read the article, I thought it was early April fools day. If I sit on the couch, and chat with my wife - is that not "active sitting"?
A healthy mind and body is one that is not sitting around but out and about engaging with the real world physically.
Yes. Sometimes I wonder if maybe the precious edict, that sitting at all was killing us is being walked back now. I walk a few miles every day, as well as lifting weights, but I sit for work. I also rise and w
Re: (Score:2)
I had the same reaction. When I first read the article, I thought it was early April fools day. If I sit on the couch, and chat with my wife - is that not "active sitting"?
It is! As opposed to staring at the TV and just absorbing whatever is going on there? Absolutely. Anyway it was only about the health of your brain, not the rest of you.
Re: (Score:2)
I had the same reaction. When I first read the article, I thought it was early April fools day. If I sit on the couch, and chat with my wife - is that not "active sitting"?
It is! As opposed to staring at the TV and just absorbing whatever is going on there? Absolutely. Anyway it was only about the health of your brain, not the rest of you.
It is especially "active sitting" when she's giving me hell about something! 8^)
And this brings up something related. I'm at an age where I see some of my peers "slowing down" mentally. While I am not - whatever people think of me, I'm considered sharp. I keep mentally active, several hobbies, picking up new things, doing research, and even went back to work part time doing fairly difficult intellectual work.
We all age differently of course, but I'll put in a note that keeping the mind busy is extrem
Re: (Score:2)
I had the same reaction. When I first read the article, I thought it was early April fools day. If I sit on the couch, and chat with my wife - is that not "active sitting"?
You improve your intelligence by changing your everyday habits. Try sitting on your wife and chat with your couch.
Re:Circulation is more important for brain health (Score:4, Funny)
I had the same reaction. When I first read the article, I thought it was early April fools day. If I sit on the couch, and chat with my wife - is that not "active sitting"?
You improve your intelligence by changing your everyday habits. Try sitting on your wife and chat with your couch.
Ha! Reminds me of the old adage. Who loves you more - your wife or your dog? Try locking your dog in the trunk of your car. Try locking your wife in the trunk of your car. Open each one after 30 seconds, and see who is happy to see you.
I know - I'm going to hell.
I guess it's nice to have a study ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Scrolling TikTok is better for your brain than staring at a blank wall and lead paint chips (aka "wall candy"), says decades-long longitudinal study. Video at 11.
Active shitting is better for bowel health (Score:4, Funny)
My study suggests that active shitting is better for bowel health than just letting the shit fall out whenever.
Re: (Score:2)
My study suggests that active shitting is better for bowel health than just letting the shit fall out whenever.
+5 disturbing! 8^)
This is a good reason to play older games (Score:2)
Over "cinematic experiences".
Just watching endless cutscenes or just pushing up to walk while listening to an NPC probably counts as "passive sitting", while dodging hundreds of bullets in a gradius game is definitively active sitting.
I read/post on slashdot (Score:2)
for my active sitting!
"Watching TV" is subjective (Score:2)
Is it ALL TV? Or if it's an emotionally engaging movie, is that more like reading, and only the brain rot TV is "passive"?
What about sitting and listening to music? Is that active or passive?