The Men Who Stare at Screens

Love the title of the article. hehe

I found the article interesting, but I am disappointed in how misleading the article title is. It does not have anything directly to do with men who stare at screens! If the men were not to stare at the screens, but keep looking elsewhere, the results would still be the same. On the other hand, if they were standing instead, or even running or jogging (e.g., on a treadmill), while staring at the screen, then the results would be quite different. Also, the article discusses general inactivity, not specifically staring at screens. I am a bit surprised that a generally high quality paper like the New York Times would use a title that a tabloid would be more likely to use instead.

In regards to health problems from being inactive too much, such as sitting most of the day, it makes sense to me that just doing an hour or so of activities per day will not counteract all of the negative effects. Our bodies were not designed to be inactive most of the waking day. As somebody who spends most of my day sitting and staring at a screen (as a computer programmer), the article's conclusions are a concern for me. However, I am somebody who tends to be fairly restless and, apart from things like how I sometimes used to be engrossed in playing video games for several hours at a time, I tend to not sit for too long before I get up to move around. Also, I occasionally tend to stretch briefly while still sitting. That could partially help to explain why, although I have not been getting enough other exercise for some years now, I have not gained any weight so I am still very slim, and my general health is still pretty good, even though I am now 47 years old. Nonetheless, I will try to make sure that I do not sit for too long at any one time, and get more exercise in general as well, because I would like to remain slim and healthy for a long time to come.

Being female, I was wondering if this only applied to men, and found these statements on the U.S. National Library of Medicine Nat'l Institute of Health (cited in article) re any adult:

"Even when adults meet physical activity guidelines, sitting for prolonged periods can compromise metabolic health. Television (TV) time and objective measurement studies show deleterious associations, and breaking up sedentary time is beneficial. Sitting time, TV time, and time sitting in automobiles increase premature mortality risk."

Hmmm, rather alarming. I spend a goodly amount and well used, valuable time on my rump...guess I better move around a bit more!

Also, I don't take offense at the article title, or feel it is misleading. (of course not; I'm a girl!) Seriously, this presently is such a pervasive problem--particularly, too much screen time for so many males. At this site, we are well aware of this.

Thanks, Jane, for the link! You may have given me a few more years or months on this old earth!

IHS

Jane, I actually saw that movie, The Men Who Stare at Goats. I thought that it was a reasonably good movie, but nothing special. In addition, I believe that you are correct that this may be why they used that article title, and actually considered mentioning this in my earlier reply, but chose not to.

I also agree with you that the article itself raises some interesting ideas to keep in mind.