The war on sitting

Brace for it. Since there's now a raft of articles (or, more likely a raft of articles basically copying what the first one said) about how sitting induces all kinds of scary changes in the body EVEN in people who do their mandated recommended hour of daily exercise.

The local news (and yeah, I know, Ray Bradbury once said not to watch local news, because it makes you stupid, and I'm somewhat inclined to agree with him) had a story on it where their doctor-for-hire talked in almost loving detail about how sitting raised one's risk of diabetes and osteoporosis and hardening of the arteries and monsterism. And it was all very very scary, until the last bit of the story, where it was noted that if you stand up and walk around periodically - which of course you have to, if you work the way I work: you have to go check on an experiment. Or go get a drink of water. Or go talk to someone about something (I'd rather discuss stuff face to face than use the phone, most of the time). And of course with teaching, I'm on my feet anywhere from three to six hours a day.

They also didn't talk about fidgeting and other moving-while-you-sit. And I am a fidgeter. I can't stay comfortable in one position for very long. And when I'm sitting at home - like watching TV or something - I have to have something else to DO - either knitting or sewing or something. And from what they said on the news story, it seemed that they were looking at sitting where the sitter was 100% still.

But of course, they had to break and show the requisite "Look at  me! I'm so great!" person who has modified their life in some way to counteract the supposed negative effects of the situation - someone who had a treadmill desk. And while on one hand, being able to work while walking does seem kind of attractive at times, I would really really bristle if my university decreed that we were all to have treadmill desks and the only way we could work "in place" was if we were standing up and walking. Because, I don't know...I guess I get paranoid but I feel like the next stage is harnessing us all to a windlass or something and having us generate electricity through our movement.

I also object to the general tone of "OH I'm so much BETTER than all of you obese couch potatoes" that seems to come with the person who has adopted the treadmill desks. Do what you will, but don't force a one-size-fits-all solution on everyone. (And what about people who develop knee problems from having to stand too long? And what about workplaces with stricter dress codes, where people have to wear dress shoes that look nice, but are less amenable to being on your feet for hours).

I just worry that some idiot somewhere is going to take this too far and do something like call for a ban on chairs. Or suggest that we spend millions of dollars to throw out all the existing school desks and replace them with "standing" desks. Or something.

It just seems to me like, as we conquer more and more health problems - now that we don't, for example, have people dying on a regular basis on the job, or have children succumbing to diphtheria, and now that we enjoy a lifespan longer than it's probably ever been, it's as if the people who study health aren't content to stop for a moment and go, "Wow, we've really come a long way!" No, they have to come up with new things that are bad for us. And a lot of times it seems to me there's a strong Puritan (in the bad sense) streak in all of it, that everything that gives ease and comfort and enjoyment is bad for us and must be stamped out; that instead of eating hamburgers we should eat raw scratchy plant parts without salt or any seasoning. And instead of relaxing at the end of the day by "taking a load off," we should run home to our personal treadmills and crank out an hour or two of walking but not going anywhere.

And I'm not sure I want to live in a society where pleasure is suspect in that way. It's funny; in some societies "pleasure" is prevented or denied by religious authorities (thinking of some of the things that happen in the more fundamentalist Muslim countries) but here, where we have more freedom in that way, we're actually allowing "experts" to tell us to deny ourselves in the name of health. (And as the new health-care plan comes on line, I expect to see the "experts" become even more strident, in the sense of "it's your DUTY" to do these things...)