Couch Potatoes: The physiology of sitting around
Hello, my good human! I am Lefteris Statharas and this is my newsletter from the world of science and academia. You can subscribe by pressing this sexy little button below
Let’s jump into today’s story
Guess who’s back? Back again! It is me! Less catchy than the slim shady one but nevertheless it is still true! After a couple of weeks off I am returning to my base and I’m back at looking at the news and writing analyses and details for science articles from around the world.
In the last few weeks, I’ve had an influx of new subscribers which I can only assume is people that also returned from their vacation. Welcome to this newsletter. I hope you will enjoy this content coming to you every week. If you have ideas, questions or worries that you’d like to share with me feel free to do so either in a comment here or on any of my social media.
This week our main story deals with something that scares me a bit. It scares me because it deals with the lifestyle I follow and many people around me follow it as well. The sedentary lifestyle! The work comes from a review article that was written by an international team of researchers from Universities in Brazil, Australia, France, the UK and the US. In the next few paragraphs, we will talk about what is a sedentary lifestyle, and what happens to our bodies with prolonged periods of sedentary behaviour.
The good thing about thing about this review is that they gave us a graphical abstract of their work which is very easily understandable! I have included the diagram below with a small explanation. But first I wanted to give you an extreme example of the sedentary lifestyle. And then I realized… the TV show Friends has given us a perfect example.
Now, I haven’t been to a scientific conference in some time. But I don’t think that when they want to explain some definitions they use pop culture references like this one. But I will be very happy when this happens!
But if you’re still not sure what i’m talking about and you need more specific definitions… I got your back
What is a sedentary lifestyle?
I’m pretty sure that the textbook definition of the sedentary lifestyle will mean very little to you. According to the World Health Organisation, sedentary behaviour is any waking behaviour characterized by an energy expenditure of 1.5 METS or lower while sitting, reclining, or lying.[source] MET is an abbreviation for Metabolic Equivalent of Task, which is a physiological measure expressing the intensity of physical activities. Examples of sedentary behaviours include most desk-based office work, driving a car, and watching television.
Practically speaking, if your day involves sitting at a desk all day, and then going home to chill on the couch until you go to bed… then you qualify for the sedentary lifestyle. And that is me to a large extent. I try not to… but bibliographic research isn’t full of thrills and blood-pumping action! I know it came as a surprise for me too.
The review that was published last month is 100 pages long, and while I’d love to get my hands on it, sadly is not an open-access publication. However, we can get some information from the press releases from academic institutions and other science communication websites. The review took 3 years to produce and reinforces the message of sitting less and moving more.
Who knew that sitting around all day could wreak havoc on your body? Turns out, excessive and prolonged sedentary behaviour can cause a whole bunch of trouble. We're talking insulin resistance, wonky blood vessels, reduced fitness levels, wimpy muscles, and the dreaded expansion of body fat - both the regular kind and the sneaky visceral kind. It's like a recipe for disaster! And get this: spending too much time on your derriere has the same physiological effects as being a couch potato.
Furthermore, simply adding a bit of light to moderate physical activity to your sedentary routine won't do much for things like body weight, waist size, or even your glucose and insulin levels. It's like trying to put a Band-Aid on a broken bone - not quite the solution we were hoping for. But, hold on! There's a silver lining. These interventions can actually be a stepping stone for those struggling to reach their exercise goals, especially folks who are overweight or obese. So, while it may not be a magic fix, it's a nudge in the right direction.
The findings of the review can be found in the figure below
What are we to do?
I understand that listing all these problems can be daunting. I know I get a bit stressed reading these because at this time I have already spent 4 hours on my chair today reading and writing things for this substack and my daily work. Sadly, the authors of the paper said that they didn’t have enough information to suggest by how much the sedentary lifestyle should be reduced if we want to see these adverse effects to be reduced. However, there are things mentioned for general knowledge.
One thing is for sure we need to do something. The World Obesity Atlas is projecting that 1 billion people will be obese by 2030 [source]. The World Health Organization has some recommendations that can help with your health. Brace yourselves for this: they suggest adults should aim for a whopping 150-300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week, or if you're feeling extra gutsy, at least 75-150 minutes of vigorous exercise. That's the ticket to unlocking some serious mental and physical health benefits!
Furthermore, some studies have shown that around 8,000 steps a day can help a lot as well. However, newer research suggests that even strutting your stuff with around 7,000 steps can make a considerable difference. Now, I checked my step count for yesterday, and I had a whopping… 3,135 steps. Is this sad? Yes. Do I say this to make you feel sad about me? No. I just want you to see that I understand that it’s not always easy to get those steps in. But I just hope that we are all a bit more aware of our health and what we can do to just help our bodies feel better.
You can read more details about the work, and the comments of the authors about the knowledge we have about sedentary lifestyle in the article from Agencia Fapesp here. And hey, after you finish reading this, maybe go for a stroll and enjoy your neighborhood!
Any more news?
People in academia are constantly coming up with new and exciting things so if you need more to quench your curiosity here are some more headlines.
Legal mining sites in Brazil store 2.55 gigatonnes of CO2 in vegetation and soil, study estimates, by EurekaAlert!
Tropical universities join forces for higher education and socio-economic development, by China Daily
Uganda sees record rise in women studying Oil&Gas courses, by Trade Arabia
Don’t Forget: How does our brain process abstract ideas?
That’s all for this week! I hope that the rest of the week will be calm and rewarding. Did you like this newsletter? If you did you can subscribe to it at the top of the page and why not share it around using this sexy little button here
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Until next week… take care and be kind [=
Love the vibe and writing style of this week's newsletter! Gave me real smile