Peter Caty/The Mirror Glued to your seat takes on new meaning.

The phrase “bored to death” while sitting in class has taken on a new meaning.

Health experts warn that sitting for prolonged periods of time can lead to a sooner death. As students, are we risking our lives by attending over 12 and a half hours of classes per week and doing countless hours of class work?

According to the article“Scientists Warn Against Prolonged Sitting” published this week in TIME magazine, “It doesn’t matter where the sitting takes place, at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV- just the overall number of hours it occurs.”

Even eating healthy and doing regular exercise isn’t enough; you’re still at risk. Although  the research is preliminary, the article reports that “several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die.”

It also explains that even for people who exercise, spending long stretches of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said people who exercise every day — but still spend a lot of time sitting — might get more benefit if that exercise were spread across the day, rather than in a single bout.

“I’m surprised by the article because as a person who exercises every day, it’s interesting that no matter what my exercise routine is like, something such as sitting may affect my overall health,” said Kim Conrad ’12.

Also mentioned in the article is an editorial published in this week’s British Journal of Sports Medicine, where Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences explained that “after four hours of sitting the body starts to send harmful signals,” and “genes regulating the amount of glucose and fat in the body start to shut down.”

She also suggested that “authorities rethink how they define physical activity to highlight the dangers of sitting.”

Although as students we aren’t sitting for four hours at a time in class, we spend countless more hours studying in the library, writing papers, and doing other work outside of class. Which then raises the question: are we better off taking 50 minute classes three times a week versus taking 75 minute classes twice a week or a turbo?

“I’ve taken a turbo every semester since spring of freshman year, and about two hours into the class I definitely lose concentration, especially if the professor doesn’t give us a break to stand up,” said Conrad.

Sophomore Krista Bradbury also agrees with Conrad. “It’s very interesting, but almost not surprising because my train of thought goes elsewhere after a certain amount of time. But I never thought it could actually be detrimental to my health.”

Until further research is conducted, researchers don’t have enough evidence to prove how bad sitting can be, but suggest we should stand up more often. At the end of the day when all you want to do is sit down, maybe you’ll reconsider.

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