In case you haven’t heard, tobacco smoking is very bad for your health. In fact, it is extremely dangerous. It is associated with an astoundingly morbid gallery of adverse consequences, including a quadrupling of cardiovascular disease risk, a quadrupling of stroke risk, at least a dozen-fold increase in lung cancer risk, an increased risk of respiratory conditions such as emphysema and bronchitis, as well as higher levels of infertility, reduced bone density, and even gangrene. In addition to cancer of the lungs, smoking contributes to the onset of cancers of the kidney, larynx, oesophegus, mouth, stomach, bladder, and uterus, making it one of the most cancerous of all human activities. The US Center for Disease Control reckon that smoking kills more Americans each year than HIV/AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. But, now, the Daily Mail is telling us that research shows you probably engage in an even more dangerous habit. You — yes, YOU — are very probably engaging in it right now, thereby hastening the arrival of your own imminent death. And what is that you are doing that is so very deadly? Well, you’re going to be surprised. It might even make you fall off your chair. Because it is… sitting. As in “sitting down“. Yes, according to the Daily Mail this week, “Sitting can be more dangerous than smoking“.
Given that the vast majority of our species spends quite a lot of time sitting down, this is quite bad news for the human race in general. And so it was with some discernible relish that the ever fearful Daily Mail reported the story. They even carried quotes from a victim of this devastating blight, someone who sat but who lived to tell the tale. But guess what? It turns out that the Daily Mail got it wrong (and the quoted victim wasn’t best pleased). Now, who’d have thought that possible? Continue reading →
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