Staying Lapless

It appears that even the act of sitting down for longer periods of time increases the risk of an earlier death. A recent study queried the cause of about 11,000 deaths and isolated time spent sitting- less than 3 hours or more than six hours- and came up with the result that sitting was associated with mortality.

The study abstract concludes: "The time spent sitting was independently associated with total mortality, regardless of physical activity level. Public health messages should include both being physically active and reducing time spent sitting."

The study seems to come to an obvious conclusion- that a sedentary lifestyle is not conducive to a long life- but the startling thing for me is that the impact of sitting for long periods during the day is not erased by physical activity during the rest of the day.

Stimulating environments lengthen lives

Much as I am a booster of the urban life and form, I must admit that I'm rather shocked that an exciting environment, such as can be found in a city, has far-reaching health consequences. Scientists have recently discovered in laboratory mice, when injected with cancerous cells, have a marked difference in response based on their environments. The mice that were raised in a "a complex environment providing social interactions, opportunities to learn and increased physical activity" had tumors almost 80 percent smaller than mice who did not have an enriched environment. Moreover, the interesting environment had a more significant impact on tumor growth than simply a greater amount of exercise.