REPOST: Now There’s Another Reason Sitting Will Kill You

TIME's Alexandra Sifferlin reports that prolonged sitting can lead to disabilities in old age.

Image source: TIME.com

We all know that sitting for long periods of time takes years off our lives, but now there’s another reason it’s getting us closer to our graves.

New research published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health reports that prolonged sitting puts people over 60 at a risk for disabilities. Elderly adults in this age group spend on average two-thirds of their days sedentary, which equates to about nine hours a day. The link between age and disability held even when researchers controlled for obesity, socioeconomic status, physical activity, and other health factors.

Here are some of the reasons not getting out of your chair can do you in.

1. Disabilities are more common among sedentary people: Researchers of the new study found that for every hour spent sedentary among people aged 60 and older was linked to a 50% greater chance of being disabled.

2. Sitting too long makes us overweight: People with more sedentary jobs are more likely to be overweight than people who sit less. Research suggests that since more jobs require people to sit at a desk, Americans are burning 120 to 140 less calories a day than they did 50 years ago.

3. You’re more likely to have a heart attack: Researchers studied the lifestyles and behaviors of more than 17,000 men and women over 13 years and discovered people who sit for the majority of their day have a 54% greater risk of dying from a heart attack.

4. It impacts your mental health: Women who reported more sitting outside of work in a 2012 survey also reported poorer mental health.

5. You’re at a greater risk for chronic disease: A survey of 63,048 Australian men found that men who sat for more than four hours a day were much more likely to suffer chronic ailments like heart disease and diabetes than men who sat for fewer.

6. Life expectancy is shorter: A 2011 study found that every hour of TV people watched after age 25 was linked to a deduction of 22 minutes from their overall life expectancy.

7. There’s a greater risk for kidney disease: A 2012 report found that people who sat less had a lower risk of kidney disease. The finding was especially prominent among women, who had a 30% lower risk of chronic kidney disease if they sat for only three hours during the work day.

8. Your risk of dying from colorectal cancer is greater: A 2013 study found that people with colorectal cancer who spent more of their free time sitting had a greater risk of dying from the disease.

Dr. Kamal Patel is an internist based in Arlinton Heights, Ill. Visit this Scribd page for a collection of articles on internal medicine and health.

REPOST: Wellcome Library Releases 100,000 Images From The History Of Medicine

Wellcome Library creates the new website, Wellcome Images, to showcase thousands of medicine-related pictures, paintings, etchings and engravings from ancient times. The images are available for high-resolution download. Head librarian Simon Chaplin believes that by allowing open access to the images, the public will better understand the human body, mind, and health through art and observation. Forbes has the full story below.

Illustration of human viscera by Paulo Mascagni. (Credit: Wellcome Images) Image Source: forbes.com

If you fancy your very own piece of the often barbaric and macabre history of medicine, then a new collection of over a hundred thousand ancient images could be for you.

Wellcome Images, one of the world-renowned Wellcome Library’s major collections, has released thousands of pictures, paintings, etchings and engravings on a new website, freely available for high resolution download.

The collection includes early photography, advertisements and paintings from names as famous as Vincent Van Gogh and Michaelangelo.

The earliest item is a 3,000-year-old Egyptian prescription on papyrus and more recent items include a newly added series of photos of hysteric and epileptic patients at the famous Salpêtrière Hospital taken in the late 1800s.

The collection ranges from fascinating anatomical studies, like Paolo Mascagni’s coloured etching of an “exploded” torso, to advertisements for products that were once considered perfectly normal, like the “elixir of life”, Hall’s Coca Wine, a tonic with alcohol and cocaine on the ingredient list. Also available are snaps of the often truly terrifying scientific instruments of the past, including amputation tools and equipment used for trepanning – where a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull as a treatment for brain diseases.

As well as the strictly medical, the pictures describe hundreds of years of humanity’s attempt to understand its own physiognomy, emotions and culture. Cultural images like the pictures of explorer John Thomson, taken in nineteenth century China, are included, as are satirical images that poke fun at the medical profession by caricaturists like George Cruikshank.

“Together the collection amounts to a dizzying visual record of centuries of human culture, and our attempts to understand our bodies, minds and health through art and observation. As a strong supporter of open access, we want to make sure these images can be used and enjoyed by anyone without restriction,” said Simon Chaplin, head of the Wellcome Library.

The library, located in London, is a major world resource on medical history. It was founded on the collections of Henry Solomon Wellcome, who sourced documents and exhibits on alchemy, witchcraft and anthropology as well as his main interest, the history of medicine.

“Wellcome Images is an invaluable visual resource for anyone interested in themes around medicine and the wider history of health and we are delighted to make our growing archive of historical images freely available to all, and provide the mechanism for direct access to them,” said Catherine Draycott, head of the collection.

Advert for Hall’s Coca Wine: The Elixir of Life – which contained alcohol and cocaine. (Credit: Wellcome Images) Image Source: forbes.com

Dr. Kamal Patel, M.D. practices general medicine in Arlington Heights, IL. Check out more collections of medicine-related books and various other documents on this Scribd page.