If you are sitting down while reading this, STAND UP RIGHT NOW!
My favorite heart blog, My Heart Sisters has a great post. Here’s a tidbit:
“The Australian study on prolonged sitting adjusted for other factors such as age, weight, physical activity and general health status, all of which can also affect longterm health risks. It found a clear dose-response effect: the more people sat, the higher their risk of premature death.
Healthy or sick, active or inactive, the more people sat, the more likely they were to die prematurely compared to those with non-sedentary lives. While the death risk was lower for anyone who exercised five hours a week or more, it still rose as these active people sat longer.
In other words, we still need to exercise, but it’s also important to spend less time sitting.
Why is prolonged sitting so comparatively hard on human beings? This study’s researchers concluded:
“The adverse effects of prolonged sitting are thought to be mainly owing to reduced metabolic and vascular health. Prolonged sitting has been shown to disrupt metabolic function. Sedentary behavior affects carbohydrate metabolism through changes in muscle glucose transporter protein content.
“Our findings suggested not only an association between sitting and all-cause mortality that was independent of physical activity but, because the findings persisted after adjustment and stratification for Body Mass Index, one that also appears to be independent of BMI.”
In another Australian study reported in the journal Diabetes Care, scientists at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne observed adults who sat for seven hours on some days and who rose every 20 minutes and walked leisurely on a treadmill for two minutes on other days. When the volunteers remained 
stationary for the full seven hours, their blood sugar spiked and insulin levels were erratic. But when they broke up the hours with movement, even that short two-minute stroll, their blood sugar levels remained stable. The scientists concluded that what was important was simply breaking up those long, interminable hours of sitting.”
I wonder if lying down with my feet pressed against the wall would work?
Read more here: http://myheartsisters.org/2012/04/29/sitting-down/
CURIOUS to the MAX 
This brought a smile to my face this morning! I have pain in my tail bone and left sit bone and I like to say my “butt expired” earlier than expected. It is very difficult for me to sit for any real length of time. Instead of cursing the universe, now I can thank it for improving my over all health!
And thank you for the gentle suggestion that I not name my disease after myself! I appreciated your alternate name suggestions too. I have now been officially diagnosed with fibromyalgia, so not only do I like your blog, I find it inspiring! Thanks again.
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Denise,
“Butt expirations” !!!! That’s great. I’m going to steal it from you.
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This is great! I am siting right now and as a life coach and a distance delivery educator, I spend a LOT of time in my chair! I’ll re-think my office configuration now!
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Terri,
I’ve been rethinking my “seat” ever since I turned 50. Now, I too, am rethinking where I stand on my “seat”. I can’t stand sitting on my “seat” in the shape it’s in.
(Forgive me, but I couldn’t help myself . . .)
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Hello Judy Judith and thanks so much for this excerpt from my HEART SISTERS “sitting” post here. Love your title: “Why Lap-Dancers Die Sooner than Pole-Dancers” – it’s important to have an attention-grabbing title and you are a master at this! I’m not pole-dancing right now (well, maybe just a little) but I AM writing this standing up at my kitchen breakfast bar. Feelling healthier already…. 🙂
cheers,
C.
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