Sitting 5 hours = Smoking 24 cigarettes

[TK1]

Yes, this is actually something one of the most respected doctors, Dr. David Agus in the US is saying:

If you exercise in the gym for an hour and then sit for five hours a day, it is the equivalent to smoking a pack and a quarter of cigarettes a day.

He's just released a new book named 'the end of illness' (the title was suggested by one of his most famous patients: Steve Jobs).

Some of the other big things he mentions in his book:

- a small daily dosage of aspirin prevents cancer
- don't work out more than 1 hour per day, marathons are very bad for our body
- Sitting For 5 Hours A Day Is Worse Than Smoking Cigarettes
- try to wake up at the same time every day. if you sleep 3 hours longer 1 day, your body needs up to 3 days to work off the stress the longer sleeping caused
- don't eat fresh vegetables
- don't blend vegetables, and especially not fruits

Here you can check a very interesting TED talk by him as his main goal is the fight against cancer:

David Agus: A new strategy in the war on cancer | Video on TED.com

What do you people think of all these? Some interesting points IMO

 

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[InMotion]

I wonder how many packs he smoked writing his book? Just kidding...interesting I will give it a look see.

 

[dknise]

Wow.

Imma take my chances and listen to zero of his advice.


edit:
HAHAHA Just did some more research on it. Let me sum up this guys thoughts:
- Never buy organic, always Monsanto.
- If that Monsanto GMO can rot, let it, then eat it.
- Don't pay attention to giving your body proper nutrients. Deficient in Vitamin D? Who cares, it's a scam.
- Medicine medicine medicine. Mask every symptom instead of solving it.
- Buy lots of over the counter medicine like aspirine, who says it affects your liver?
- Buy every single flu shot. Inject inject inject.

He sounds EXACTLY like the doctors who were like "oh nooo, your blown out L4-L5 is fine, let's just put you on Oxy Coton for the next 3 years and see how you do. If not, we'll give you orthopedic surgery and bolt ya back up and prescribe you vicodin for the rest of your life. Gotta see those recurring profits."

 

[Vick]

Huh. Life's confusing.

Idk what to believe anymore.

 

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[RBefort]

Huh. Life's confusing.

Idk what to believe anymore.

This is what I think....don't even fresh vegetables? Just lololol. That's what we've been told from day 1. Now granted, this could be the same as the education/graduate/get good job crap that has been told to us all along and is false. But really, no vegetables??? This is like everything else you hear "New studies say what actually was thought to cause cancer, actually reduces." Ten years later "New study shows (on the same thing we said reduced cancer) actually increases your risk." I know sitting is bad for you, but comparing to cigarettes? I bet I feel a lot better sitting 5 hours a day every day of my life than smoking 24 cigs every day for the same amount of time. Aye Caramba...

 

[Brentnal]

- don't eat fresh vegetables

Thats just weird i have been taught its healty

 

[theag]

Of course vegetables are healthy, but its better to buy them frozen. That way they are fresher than "fresh" vegetables because they get shock-frozen right after harvest and have the same or even better nutrients without rotting away for a couple of days in trucks or the supermarket aisle.

 

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[TK1]

Of course vegetables are healthy, but its better to buy them frozen. That way they are fresher than "fresh" vegetables because they get shock-frozen right after harvest and have the same or even better nutrients without rotting away for a couple of days in trucks or the supermarket aisle.

Exactly, that's exactly what he says in the book.

Reading it and so far I have to say it's very, very good (I've read like 500 books on health/nutrition etc., but this one is one of the best so far)

 

[RBefort]

What does he say in regards to the sitting 5 hrs a day? How in the hell do you stand all day?

 

[thesearch]

What does he say in regards to the sitting 5 hrs a day? How in the hell do you stand all day?

I also got curious, so I did a little research and found this on some website:

Moving more is tough, especially since most people's jobs revolve around sitting. But breaking up endless time on your bum, even for a few minutes, can make a huge difference. Key enzymes move, blood flows, mind and muscles flex. Here is what you can do to sit less:

Get up and move at least every 30 minutes. Get water or coffee. Pace up and down the hall or just stand when you're on a phone call. Even fidgeting helps.
Go ahead, watch your favorite TV shows-but don't just sit there. Cook, fold laundry, empty the dishwasher or ride a stationary bike.
If you have to spend all day at your computer, consider investing in a treadmill desk like Michael Roizen, MD. That way you can keep moving even while you work.
Make sure you exercise. Even though working out won't completely rid you of the negative effects of sitting, a study found that active people who sat for long periods lived longer than inactive people who sat for long periods.

I guess I'll follow some of the advice there but not the "treadmill desk" one. WTF

 

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[Brander]

"The end of illness" and Steve Jobs in one sentence. Sorry, doesn't compute.

 

[rocksolid]

I wonder how many cigarettes we smoke by sleeping 8 hrs a night? Everything in moderation people, it's simple. Besides do you want to live forever?

 

[robotunicr0n]

- a small daily dosage of aspirin prevents cancer
- don't work out more than 1 hour per day, marathons are very bad for our body
- Sitting For 5 Hours A Day Is Worse Than Smoking Cigarettes
- try to wake up at the same time every day. if you sleep 3 hours longer 1 day, your body needs up to 3 days to work off the stress the longer sleeping caused
- don't eat fresh vegetables
- don't blend vegetables, and especially not fruits

-Aspirin is a blood thinner... so it fights cancer by reducing the number of cells in your body that could possibly start maliciously reproducing... If anything it SLOWS cancer, and at the cost of the rest of your body.
-I actually agree with this, but probably not the way he meant it. Exercise, in my opinion, should only happen about 3 times a week for around 30 minutes. Do intense sprints once a week and lift the rest of the time. Lots of cardio = bad
-Also surprisingly agree, though not with the cigs part. That's a metaphor gone wild.
-Not sure about this one, but as long as you stick to full sleep cycles, you should be fine.
-WTF
-WTF

Well for the veggies it depends on where you get them. I get Amazon fresh delivered and the veggies I get come from the farms nearby, so I'm not ultimately worried about it. Frozen veggies are great though, nutritionally.

To clear up and explain some more on a few things: Remember that fitness products are a fastlane business. You market to all the fat people by telling them they aren't beautiful but that they should be, and then sell them products that usually don't work, but not because the product is bad, but because it relies on the willpower of the individual, which is a targeted population since most times overweight/obese individuals have an issue with willpower.

Same for this book overall. It is fastlane. He's saying stuff that will get people's attention so that they will buy the book. Once you buy the book, he's gotten his money and he doesn't care.

I noticed some people confused about sitting. I can find the links, don't have them handy, but there are scientific studies that investigate the health of the musculature from sitting. Sitting stretches your glutes and posterior chain into a position they should not be when you sit. Since we all mostly sit for 8+ hours a day, this is nearly a permanent position that they are in. I have the experience of having a lower back injury, and when I sit for long hours, it gets worse. The easy way to handle this is a standup desk. Get a nice chef's foam pad to stand on and keep the desk just below chest level. To begin with you'll probably have to sit a lot, but as your butt and back strengthen up, it will become more bearable.

 

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[1PercentStreet]

"If you exercise in the gym for an hour and then sit for five hours a day, it is the equivalent to smoking a pack and a quarter of cigarettes a day."



Damn, I should probably stop exercising. Maybe it'll be only a pack of cigs a day harming me.

 

[TK1]

Lots of cardio = bad

Why?

 

[robotunicr0n]

Why?

Well first let's define "lots of cardio". What I mean when I say this, is doing something like running 5+ miles a day every week. Mostly it is bad because it breaks down your muscle when you do it that long (consider distance and endurance runners. They are very thing and don't have much muscle definition anywhere but their legs). It also puts an extreme strain on your joints, especially for heavier individuals. Even when I'm 100% fit and in shape, I will still be very heavy as I am 6 foot and have a very large bone structure and muscle build.

Also if you're looking to lose weight, it is better to do lifting 3 times a week, since it builds your muscles, and muscle growth will increase your need to metabolize, so you'll burn more of that energy.

As an afterthought, I am by no means a professional or particularly knowledge about this. I'm a big fan of MJ's concept that you shouldn't take advice on something from someone who isn't practicing it himself. I don't personally do lots of cardio, but I am overweight, not in shape, so come to your own conclusions. This is what makes sense to me and has helped me lose weight. It may not for you.

 

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[buckmajor]

Well first let's define "lots of cardio". What I mean when I say this, is doing something like running 5+ miles a day every week.

The average person don't normally run that much in a day??

War on cancer is a broad topic.

 

[dknise]

What I mean when I say this, is doing something like running 5+ miles a day every week.

I ran 5+ miles a day for years and benched above my body weight, completely shredded. So you're "weak and thin" argument isn't entirely true.

Running did however cause my L4-L5 to blow out haha. That's a whole other story though.

 

[theag]

Why?

Specifially targeted towards women, but of course the same is true for men. Very good article and blog in general. Dude studied maths/physics in record time and also is a beast and trains top athletes. Very scientific approach.

Why Women Should Not Run

 

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[dknise]

Specifially targeted towards women, but of course the same is true for men. Very good article and blog in general. Dude studied maths/physics in record time and also is a beast and trains top athletes. Very scientific approach.

Why Women Should Not Run

That was the best researched article I have ever read. o.0 Do you happen to know if there's an article specifically targeted towards men on this? I looked around and Google'd but nothing with that many sources.


Looking through the site though... I can't say I agree with much of their other articles. Take this excerpt called "The Sins of Organic":
The Sins of Organic - Athlete.io - Formerly DangerouslyHardcore.com

When I wander my local farmer’s market, I see a lush variety of fresh, colorful, aromatic fruits and vegetables that, most of the time, aren’t labeled organic. When I ask the merchants why they don’t choose to go organic, their answer invariably is, “We want to produce the healthiest food possible on the least amount of land with the least amount of pesticides. We can’t do that if we want to meet the guidelines for organic.” This is the philosophy I want used to produce the food I eat. What about you?

His senses deceive him. If he would only think of it from the business sense, the non-organic farmer would want to ensure the maximum yield of his crop with a maximum possible mass. The only way they make money is volume x mass, not based on how "healthy" a product they provide.

 

[jjipkr]

I can agree with a few things, like over exercising, and over sleeping. But mixing vegetables? Sitting down worse than cigarettes? No, not buying it... he's going to need STRONG empirical evidence to substantiate those claims.

 

[Zndr]

Bad info. I wouldn't listen to a thing he says. There's no imperial evidence supporting his claims.

 

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[TK1]

Specifially targeted towards women, but of course the same is true for men. Very good article and blog in general. Dude studied maths/physics in record time and also is a beast and trains top athletes. Very scientific approach.

Why Women Should Not Run

very good link, very good blog. dankeschön

 

[Vitalus]

There is a book called Transcend by Ray Kurzweil (Currently the director of engineering for Google) He's a bit of a futurist but he believes that breakthroughs in science and medicine will greatly extend human life expectancy (possibly indefinitely) within the next 20-30 years. I'm not as avid of a believer as he is, however I think we will see a life expectancy increase of 40-50 years (at least for those who can afford such treatments). Anyways the book is a great book if your interested in tweaking your life for longevity with the knowledge and technology available today.

I also spend a lot of time on a forum called longecity.com reading on this topic and brain enhancement.

 

[rrclark]

Interesting, but the one that really baffles me is "don't blend vegetables". Can anybody who's read the book explain why not?

 

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[HotRocket]

Seems like his advice worked well for Steve....

 

[TonyStark]

This "doctor" is a quack.

 

[Mikkel]

A lot of this advice seems to not have much reason behind this post.

Sitting for 5 hours is NOT equivalent to 24 cigarettes. No where does it say you will develop lung cancer, bronchitis etc. However, you can argue that the effects that it has on your body is about the same. Sitting for more than 20 minutes is bad for your body. That much is true. Stress is developed among other things as Myofascial tightening etc. Stress, cause cause some crazy disease just from the mere fact that you are sick.

As said before, Fresh vegetable are not as beneficial as Frozen due to nutrient degradation

Don't work out more than 1 hour. Sure I can buy that. You don't need to over work your body to be physically healthy. It's also no crazy thought that running marathons cause unnecessary wear and tear on our body. However, it is all based on the person. To some people, running a marathon is okay verse someone who runs 1 mile... because that one person has heart disease and ends up having a heart attack... because this is his first time off the couch.

The rest, I can't speak on.

Nothing really ground break though to be honest. He just is making normal statements seem bold with his comparisons.

 

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[KLaw]

Of course vegetables are healthy, but its better to buy them frozen. That way they are fresher than "fresh" vegetables because they get shock-frozen right after harvest and have the same or even better nutrients without rotting away for a couple of days in trucks or the supermarket aisle.

Interesting. But, are you suggesting fresh vegetables out of my garden are less heathy then frozen vegetables? I know you didn't say that but imo that is fresh. Not grocery store veggies.

 

[Ascension]

- a small daily dosage of aspirin prevents cancer

It might slow cancer because less nutrients get transported to the cancer cells (and all other cells). Might be an idea if you already have cancer but IMHO doesn't sound like the nicest thing you can do to your body.
Even certain antioxidants can be bad for you if you already have cancer or do smoke (they stop the cells from dying, unfortunately that effects cancer cells as well. Or for smoakers the highly oxidative enironment in their lungs). But that certainly doesn't mean healthy individuals should stop consuming them.

- don't work out more than 1 hour per day, marathons are very bad for our body

depends entirely on the intensity of your workout and your genetic layout, but in general I can agree with him. Even professional marathon runners rarely run marathons because it is just to taxing on the body.

- Sitting For 5 Hours A Day Is Worse Than Smoking Cigarettes

It certainly is pretty bad for the body, not sure where he got the 24 cigarettes from though.

- try to wake up at the same time every day. if you sleep 3 hours longer 1 day, your body needs up to 3 days to work off the stress the longer sleeping caused

Not really, your circadian rythm can adjust by about an hour a day, which should work in both directions equally. Depending on how you do it you might miss some sleep though, which is in turn bad for your body. By the way, I read that somebody said to much sleep was bad for you. That study was heavily flawed. Ill people need more sleep to regenerate. They just saw, hey, those people with 9 hours of sleep are pretty sick, to much sleep is bad for you! When that study was redone in a controlled manner with athletes who were forced to sleep for a certain amount of time, the ones with 9h+ heavily outperformed the ones who only slept for 8 hours or less.

- don't eat fresh vegetables
- don't blend vegetables, and especially not fruits

No idea, where he is getting this from, if he means that frozen veggies can contain more nutrients than the produce in supermarkets, he's right, but the sentence is pretty misleading.

In general, while he might have some points, the ones where he doesn't are enough of a reason for me to mistrust pretty much everything he says. How are we going to know if he did a better job researching the other ones?