sitting dangerous to health

by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters

When Oregon cardiologist Dr. James Beckerman sent me a copy of his new book called Heart To Start and asked me to review it, I agreed – but I have to tell you that it took me a month to actually open it and read it. These days, I’m often invited to review heart-related books of varying quality, so I tend to be a wee bit wary when taking on another review. But I’d already been following Dr. B for some time on Twitter, and I’d quoted him in this 2013 article – so part of me really, really hoped I would like his new book.

But I was wrong. By the end of the first chapter, I realized that I didn’t like this book. I loved it! Continue reading “Heart disease is a sitting disease” →

by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters

A recent study of over 200,000 Australians suggests that you might want to stand up if you happen to be sitting down right now. This study*, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that prolonged sitting is a health risk independent of physical activity, and adds to the growing body of evidence that people who sit the most die the soonest – and, worse, you may not be able to exercise this effect away.

I don’t know about you, but I thought that last finding was disturbing.

In fact, Aussie researchers reported that not even getting regular physical exercise can outweigh the higher mortality risks associated with sitting more than 11 hours a day. Healthy or sick, active or inactive, the more people sat, the more likely they were to die sooner than non-sedentary people. Continue reading “Are you reading this sitting down? Don’t!” →