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January 30, 2010 - Standing Up For Sitting Down

by Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.

Have you heard that sitting is deadly? Yeah, just as you're enjoying that new couch, we're told that too much sitting, even if you exercise, can kill you. And it doesn't matter if it's at the office, at school, sitting in front of a computer, or in your car. A new study that tracked 17,000 Canadians for 12 years found that people who sat a lot had a higher death risk. And we Americans spend about half our time sitting. So, this isn't good news. It comes on the heels of a new report that said that kids spend about 8 hours a day plugged into electronic devices. On cell phones, ipods, video games, computers. That's 53 hours a week. More than a full time job. And we wonder why child obesity is on the rise? Because they're SITTING, playing with gadgets. Not a good prospect for the future health of Americans. I know we like to be kept occupied and stimulated, but we used to do it in less harmful ways. Remember walks in the park, roller skating, and hide and go seek? Now it's Playstation and Nintendo, even though with WII you at least move around. I suppose all this gadgetry is to escape boredom and to avoid being alone with ourselves. But maybe aloneness isn't the worse thing in the world. You would think that since we're sitting so much, we might want to make it more profitable. There's a kind of SITTING that the Buddhists have long extolled. It's Sitting Meditation that tries to eliminate all our distractions and help us get in touch with our inner selves. Christians, Jews, Muslims all have their variation. We might benefit from unplugging and listening to the stillness, just for a little bit. And, yeah, we have to SIT and be still to do it, but we're sitting anyway. Why not do something that might actually benefit us and lift our spirits? And then take a walk around the block. But leave the Ipod home. Listen to the birds, the trucks, the kids, the dogs. Notice the color purple in a field. I'm standing up for sitting down, and then walking around. Sounds like a pretty balanced life to me.

To watch Father Beck give the above Reflection, click here.