Turns out sitting is bad for us, according to the New York Times. Our muscles "go as silent as those of a dead horse." Yummy. That leads to a "cascade of harmful metabolic effects" (if you're still alive): your rate of burning calories drops by two-thirds, insulin effectiveness drops within a single day, and your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and being obese rises.
And one more thing: a study showed that for each additional hour someone sits and watches TV per day, the risk of dying rose by 11 percent. To combat all this bad news, a researcher has created a "treadmill desk" to be used in offices. (At this, I put my head down on my own stationary desk and despaired.)
The only good news: fidgeters burn more calories. Fidgeting is actually anti-sitting. If you're a sitter who hops up to monitor your dryer or bends over to tie her shoes or even--can we hope?--rubs hand cream into her cuticles while watching "The Sopranos," you are less of a dead horse. Oh, boy.
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