Sitting at a desk all day � as bad for you as smoking?

[AB Asks]

New research is saying that sitting at a desk all day is as dangerous to your health as smoking or as exposure to the sun. People sit at their desks all day then go home and watch television and this kind of lifestyle is more likely to lead to a person developing heart disease or type 2 diabetes. What do you think of these claims? Are they far fetched?

[jno]

now is this the sort of question that encourages people to stay on AB 24/7?? I think not.

[paulos66]

I can't see any proble .............................aarghhhhhhhhhh

[funnygirl]

I sit at a desk all day and I must admit I do get stiff. I try to go and have a walkabout regularly.
And when I get home, yes, I plonk myself on the settee and then up to bed.
I try to make up for the lack of exercise, by walking to the tube station in the mornings, about a 15 minute walk and I get off the tube a stop early, about a 10 minute walk. Mind you I walk slow.
But come home time, I cut out the walking!

[JockSporran]

Yes, I can see that. Lack of exercise is not good for anybody. Which is why I'm headed for doom unless I get up off my backside and do some winter walking.

[WoWo]

I used to have a manual job, I would come home physicall shattered every day but while I drank and ate relatively poorly I was around average or below the ideal weight for my height. Then I got an office job and 10 years later I weigh about 5 stone overweight.

Some of that would be down to natural weight gain due to being older but there is no doubt for me sitting at a desk as been very very bad for me.

[Reverandfunk]

Apparently breathing is really bad for you

[China Doll]

If you do nowt else other than sit all day then of course it's bad for you.

However I also exercise my arms in the evening when I work out with a glass of wine while lying on the couch holding a book/magazine.

[eyeshade]

Rev that's just about right. Everything is bad for you. You can't even come home from a stressful day at the office to have a glass of wine now. Don't drink, don't smoke, reminds me of a song...

[Skreecheeboy]

http://www.sportengland.org/index/get_resource s/research/active_people/active_people_1/activ e_people_maps.htm
Interesting stats on how active (or inactive) the English are.

[babybombo]

Its the same idea of why they're trying to get more proper exercise into kids P.E lessons these days.
They sit at their desks all day then many, not all but alot, go home and sit infront of the telly. So now theyre Physical Education lessons are to be more "physical".

Would it not then, be sensible for more call centres and big companies to have staff gyms, I know some do but maybe more should ? Or am I just being unrealistic expecting their employees to actually use a facility like that?

[shanx]

another claim by the sound of it , how can i get rich quick without moving off my ar**se

[PaulSabin]

They actually paid someone to research and find that out? I mean No **** sherlock.