​Great News: Sitting Down All Day Won’t Cause You an Early Death

From the column ‘VICE Guide to Right Now’

Photo by Phil Whitehouse

Still reeling from the news sitting down all day could lead you to an early grave? Relax: a new study, with even more participants, has proved it wrong.

Dr Melvyn Hillsdon from the University of Exeter spent 16 years following 5000 participants for his study and says, “Our study overturns current thinking on the health risks of sitting and indicates that the problem lies in the absence of movement rather than the time spent sitting itself. Any stationary posture where energy expenditure is low may be detrimental to health, be it sitting or standing”.

So turns out it’s not the sitting you need to worry about, just the never moving from your desk.

Hillsdon goes on to attack gullible health-conscious employers, saying, “the results of the study cast doubt on the benefits of sit-stand work stations, which employers are increasingly providing to promote a healthy working environment”. Stupid fools – what were they thinking trying to improve working conditions for employees ?

Sadly, it’s not all good news. According to a literature review by the BBC, crossing your legs could increase blood pressure and intensify the risk of deep vein thrombosis. So next time you’re just trying get on with your job, have a think about that.

And to think we once laughed at orthopaedic desk chairs.