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Ray Watford's avatar

Joan Vernikos, a former NASA scientist and expert in stress and healthy aging, wrote a book titled "Sitting Kills, Moving Heals: How Everyday Movement Will Prevent Pain, Illness, and Early Death - and Exercise Alone Won't." In this book, Vernikos explores the health impacts of prolonged sitting and the benefits of regular movement throughout the day. She emphasizes that simple, everyday movements, like standing up or walking, can have profound effects on health and longevity, and she provides practical strategies for incorporating more movement into daily life. The book is worth the read.

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Michael Easter's avatar

I'll check out that book!

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Matt Hirschberg's avatar

Solid, actionable content. Well done!

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Michael Easter's avatar

Thanks for reading!

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J.A Schmidt's avatar

I'd honestly be interested in knowing how other variables play into their biological resistance to the pathologies that plague western societies, like being outdoors more often, getting more sunlight, and being grounded to the earth and so on. It can't be movement, or lack thereof alone. Can it?

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Michael Easter's avatar

There's definitely a lot at play. I alluded to that, but this post mainly focused on light activity. I do think the light activity is primarily at play for topics like their relatively lower rates of back pain.

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J.A Schmidt's avatar

That's fair and I would tend to agree with your sentiment. My back pain is always noticeable when I sit in chairs for long periods.

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Ray Watford's avatar

Our body was designed to live in gravity as a perpetual motion machine

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George T's avatar

A year ago I ditched my office chair for an active chair called QOR 360 Ariel. I don't have the setup for a standing desk but this was a great alternative. It absolutely fixed my posture for starters. It took an adjustment period because the chair has no back or arm rest and it's unstable by design, but now my core is so much stronger. I have no issues even on longer rucks with a 50lb ruck!

Another thing I discovered is that my body burns notably more calories (probably NEAT), because of the higher core engagement from being slightly off balance all day.

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Dom Sutton's avatar

Ok I consider myself a relatively fit individual. I did the sitting to the floor using the method described in the post. It wasn’t pretty and harder than I thought. Now I just need some Ozempic and I will be right as rain…

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Michael Easter's avatar

It's tricky! The good news is that it becomes less tricky the more you practice.

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Aris G.'s avatar

I do NOT want to try going from standing to sitting without using my hands or knees. (Granted, I got a bum knee, but still! 😂) Kudos to you for trying. I do like occasionally doing Turkish Get Ups, with or without weights, just to engage the muscles.

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Tony's avatar

This is the greatest stack. Please keep posting

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Ray Watford's avatar

It sounds like you're frustrated with how complex and scientific nutrition has become, and you're nostalgic for a time when eating was simpler and more enjoyable. Food can indeed be a source of pleasure and comfort for many people, and cultural and economic factors can play a significant role in our relationship with food. It's important to find a balance that allows you to enjoy food while also considering your health and well-being. We can’t fix everything with a pill.

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Lee Diwell's avatar

I think I’ve always known instinctively that sitting on the floor is better than marshmallowing into a sofa … even more so if you can sit on the floor with your dogs. Love it!

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Adam Porter's avatar

I might have missed it; is there a way to get the full episode podcast outside of Spotify?

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Joan Breibart's avatar

Stop trying to make gluttony anything but what it is. That's why we have "scientific" diets and nutrition as if you needed a PHD to eat a sandwich and rink a soda. All of this for 60 years=obesity. Do you know that people actually ate and had never heard of a calorie or carb or gluten or keto or vegan?? EATING is pleasure and release. And if you can't afford tickets to HAMILTON then eating an entire pizza is your escape.

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Jon McCumber's avatar

Should kids at school sit in no-back chairs or stools?

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Joan Breibart's avatar

Sorry-- don't need to hear the official bullshit pc answer. Dieting and over exercising made Americans obese. Eat healthy made them BINGE. No person is fat who has fries with their sandwich rather than a "healthy" kale salad. Fast food doesn't make anyone fat. BINGING does. Go on the support groups for those taking Ozempic etc. They talk about how they used to stuff in an entire PIZZA-- that is 96 bites boys and girls-- and now they can barely eat two slices ( 24 bites).

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Joan Breibart's avatar

Yes Ozempic may have issues but 65% of the US population is obese, not overweight, obese and so they’re no options. This is known as the trade-off principal people who are obese are ravenously hungry because they messed up their hormones with diet and exercise.

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Joan Breibart's avatar

No one knows why so many people have back pain but the Hadza make wellness look really dopey. Ten years ago when the NYTimes published the Hunter Gatherers Diet the readers went crazy since when this tribe is moving they don't burn the calories we expect. Of course, this was when calorie burning was the holy grail. Now we know: FORGET CALORIES HORMONES RULE! But also Hadza people don't feel "good" about themselves when they eat "healthy" and exercise or "bad" about themselves when they just do nothing. Here we are teeming with guilt or false pride. Very few people sit or stand or even lie supine in a correct manner suitable for their very own bodies-- not someone else's. Fortunately , Ozempic will fix the issues and then we can all relax actively.

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J.A Schmidt's avatar

Ozempic represents the apex of our desire for comfort and novelty. It is a push of the button fix to a problem we created. Or so one might think. There's no way that altering the hormonal and neurotransmitter chemistry could have any sort of adverse effect on our health, could it?

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