Some person at my work is talking about how “according to the annals of internal medicine” we are all going to die early because we sit all day (I’m a Horologist). He says even though I train I will die early.
This person told me before that when I eat bacon it is just like smoking a pack of cigarettes “according to science.”
So is sitting bad for me? I can’t give it up since I have a large family relying on my support.
I was thunking perhaps I could get up every hour and put duct tape over this persons mouth to get some exercise…
(If this posted 2x I’m sorry my isp sux 2day)
Ask him for his citations.
He “heard it on the news”…
I looked up the media article and then the study.
http://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2653704/patterns-sedentary-behavior-mortality-u-s-middle-aged-older-adults
I’m not worried. It makes a catchy headline I suppose but I don’t see a cause and effect in the study. I also see “may not be representative of the general population.”
I feel the best RX the next time my co-worker speaks is to turn up the volume on the latest BBM podcast through my ear buds, smile, nod and go back to fixing watches.
I prefer dying early to not eating bacon.
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When I hear people talk this way, I usually just say something like “Oh yea?” and move on to another topic. Though, I have a horrible time hiding facial expressions so I’m pretty sure my face reads “I think you’re full of shit”
One of the most frustrating parts of going back to get pre-req’s for med school is being in class with freshman who are either too apathetic about everything to be interesting, or suffering so much from the Dunning-Kruger Effect that they’re just too frustrating to talk to. For example, a girl in my group asked (I might add, whilst desperately trying to finish an assignment that was due at the end of class), “Hey yall, what’s an energy drink that won’t make me fat?” I responded (right after letting out a long sigh, both because I knew this would lead to no where and ultimately waste valuable time, and at the same time not being able to let it go), “First, I don’t think that’s how that works. I don’t think you just drink something, with sugar, with fat, with calories, with whatever, and you just magically get fat. Second, if you want something with no sugar or few calories just find a diet version of whatever you like.” That’s when one of the brighter persons in the group interjected, “Noooo, don’t drink diet. That’s got a whole bunch of aspartame, and that’s not good for you.” I’m pretty sure at this point that any blood pressure reading would’ve put me at least Stage III Hypertension. At any rate, I asked that person, “What makes you think that?” She said, “Dude, there’s like…studies on it.” I asked, “Where? Did you read them?” She said, “Well no, but they’re out there.” For anyone who cares how the story ends, I told the girl who wanted the “non-fattening drink” to find some zero calorie Monsters, and she responded, “Oh well yeah?! I drink those all the time!” I was like, “Well…why’d you ask lol?” She said, “Ugh… I don’t know…” Yeahhhh. Stage IV Hypertension now.
The point of my sharing this story is, whenever you interact with someone regarding diet and exercise, the vast majority of the time, you might as well be discussing politics. In the rare cases that someone even “has a study” to support their point of view, the study has not even been read by that person, the study was cherry picked, the study was selected through a host of confirmation biases, and the person is very likely to only be more confident in his or her belief the more you argue with them, unless you have a considerable amount of authority or so many facts that the person just has to bend.
Whenever someone disrespects bacon, you should punch them in the throat.
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