Sit and Be Counted

Greenland sharks can live hundreds of years, presumably because they don't sit very much. Image from NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program

"Sitting for more than 30 minutes at a time linked to higher risk of cancer death"

That’s how the article on The Guardian begins. Here’s how it ends:
“There were limitations to the research, including the fact that the researchers performed a statistical analysis of an observational study, so could not prove causation.”

Everything dies. Greenland sharks, trees, and tortoises can live for hundreds of years but still shuffle off their mortal coil. Even stars die eventually. The one thing that will never die: this story that sitting for a few minutes a day will be the cause of your death.

I suppose I could do more. I could add bars in the toilet and do a few dips and pull-ups in the bathroom. I could squeeze in a few squats at the dinner table. I could forgo chairs entirely and sit, in the Japanese fashion directly upon the floor, though, that’s still sitting isn’t it? I could add weights to my knapsack to get some good old fashioned rucking in. I could ignore that brake pad squeezing awkwardly on my bike’s rear wheel rim just to have some added resistance. If I’m being honest, it wouldn’t hurt to fill my pockets with stones when I go swimming as I do tend to float a little too easily. The less said of how much more movement I should be getting while sleeping, the better.

The point of the study seems to be more shock than reality. The study comes from activity trackers worn by 90,000 people (it should be said, these were people in the UK, who used to have a habit of sitting in a pub). Clearly a sedentary lifestyle is unhealthy and plenty of studies have found many benefits of moving, stretching and being active. A healthy diet, a good night’s sleep and some minimal activity is associated with a lot of positive outcomes. Yet I can’t help but ask the simple question that the researchers failed to ask. If everyone sits for 30 minutes a day, whether while commuting or eating a meal, shouldn’t everyone be dying of cancer? There have been troubling increases in cancer rates that may be linked more to ultra-processed foods or other pervasive pollutants in urban environments. But telling everyone that sitting for 30 minutes is a ticking time bomb to the Big C sounds a bit hyperbolic. Were these non-movers smokers? Were they drinkers? Were they choking down junk food as they sat? Were they seniors? I mean, infants sit for 30 minutes a day but infant cancer hasn’t risen.

Again it comes down to how they communicate aggregate data that somehow becomes the probability of cancer and, more incredibly, advice to you, the reader. None of that data has any impact on me unless it refers to a non-smoking, non-drinking, white male, in my age group, with my same family history, who averages over 50 minutes of activity per day and has a striking intolerance for crappy health advice.