Physician: Sitting in chairs killing us; get up, get moving

There's a saying going around that sitting is the new smoking. It's a bit snarky and a dig at those of us who spend a lot of time on our rear ends for work and pleasure. But James Levine, who is credited with it, is dead serious. He says sitting could be worse than smoking.

Get Up! is the title of Levine's new book on the perils of sitting. We lose two hours of life for every hour we sit, writes Levine, director of the Mayo Clinic-Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative and inventor of the treadmill desk. Sitting all day is not natural and is to blame for many ailments, including obesity, he says.

"We have created for ourselves a modern way of living that clashes with the way we're meant to be."

So the obvious answer is to move more, by, say, taking walks after meals, something Levine does after every meal.

"The good news is that this is incredibly easy. The bad news is this is incredibly difficult," especially for a computer-centric workforce, he said.

Yet Levine is optimistic that the revolution is at hand. He sees the arrival of dynamic offices, with walking paths from department to department, active senior centers, and classrooms. "The cool companies, cool executives are not driving BMWs, they're on [desk] treadmills. My kids won't be working the way my colleagues and myself have."

"This is about hard-core productivity. You will make money if your workforce gets up and gets moving. Your kids will get better grades if they get up and get moving," he says. - Los Angeles Times