Fitness

I’m sure you know (along with everyone else on the planet) that sitting up straight is important to prevent back pain — right?

This “truth” is just one of the many pieces of health and fitness advice which are so well established they are almost never questioned.

Well, maybe some of this “proven” advice should be questioned.

Some researchers recently analyzed different postures and concluded that the strain of sitting upright for long hours is a perpetrator of chronic back problems.

What?

Yep, you read this correctly. These researchers found that a 90-degree sitting position causes the spinal disks to move and misalign more than any other position.

They used a new form of magnetic resonance imaging to study 22 volunteers sitting in three different positions — slouching, sitting up straight, and sitting back with a 135 degree posture.

Which one do you think put the least strain on the back?

I’ve already told you that sitting up straight put the most strain so you only have two to choose from.

Well, it turns out the 135-degree sitting posture was the best (as far as sitting — laying down with the knees slightly bent put the least strain on the back).

Back pain is the most common cause of work-related disability in the United States and costs Americans nearly $50 billion annually. Most researchers believe one of the major causes of this ailment is sitting — and, given the results of this study, sitting incorrectly.

Here is what one of the study’s authors said about their results:

“This may be all that is necessary to prevent back pain, rather than trying to cure pain that has occurred over the long term due to bad postures.”

My point? Don’t assume that long-standing health and fitness advice is correct.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of Finally, the Straight Scoop About Weight, Nutrition, and Fitness

If you’ve reached this page and are not familiar with me, I encourage you to review the About Allen page to gain some understanding of where I’m coming from. If you do, you’ll learn that I’m on a personal mission to discredit the mainstream and fad beliefs about weight loss that have so-obviously failed us (and which are totally unsupported by the evidence) – and to convince the world there is a completely different approach to losing weight that actually works due to its precise alignment with the true nature of human physiology. To learn more about this mission, please visit Truths Publishing.

This blog is one component of my efforts that’s focused on nutrition and fitness. Here I review recent media reports related to these topics and try to clarify the confusing, contradictory and inaccurate information that’s so prevalent. My goal if for you to understand the fundamental and unchanging truths about nutrition and exercise so you can stop worrying about doing the wrong thing and enjoy optimal health and fitness.
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For years physicians, nutritionists, public health officials, and weight-loss gurus have been arguing over the “fit or fat” controversy — is it better to be above an average weight and fit, or at a normal weight and unfit?

The truth is no one really knows which is better for the general population. But, even it was known, the conclusion would not apply to everyone. There is just too much diversity in the human population for the results to apply universally.

But that doesn’t keep people from arguing about it.

Now a new study published in the September 2006 issue of the journal of Critical Care adds fuel to the fire by analyzing data on 15,000 subjects collected since 1987.

Here’s what the researchers found.

Diabetes increased the risk of illness and early death — but being overweight or obese, without diabetes, added no additional risk of these outcomes.

Being overweight did increase the risk of diabetes and this risk increased with size (although most overweight people are not diabetic). But, the added weight in the absence of diabetes didn’t seem to cause any health problems.

What? How is this possible? Isn’t being overweight the number one killer in the United States?

Well, some people think so. But this study seems to suggest otherwise.

As did a study from 1997 published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by researchers at the Cooper Institute in Dallas. They analyzed data on over 25,000 men and discovered that those who were unfit and lean had a death rate nearly three times higher than that of men who were overweight but moderately fit.

But, again, this data and all the other data on both sides of the “fit or fat” controversy are from analysis of large populations. The reality is that the results — no matter what the conclusions when the controversy is ultimately resolved (which will likely never happen) — may not apply to a specific individual. Therefore, we each need to decide for ourselves what it means to be healthy and fit.

Is your blood pressure too high? Do you have elevated cholesterol levels? Do you have diabetes? Are you more sedentary than most people? Do you eat a poor diet with little food variety? These are much better questions to ask yourself to evaluate your health than just looking at your weight.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of Finally, the Straight Scoop About Weight, Nutrition, and Fitness