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We have some bad news: Are you sitting down?

01 Apr 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus had a simple request of his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane in this Sunday’s gospel: "Sit here while I pray." Yet Peter, James, and John couldn’t even stay awake to do that much for their suffering Master in his hour of need. On the other hand, just sitting there could have been quite harmful to their health, according to the surprising results of a new study. Those who spend 11 or more hours a day sitting are 40 percent more likely to die over the next three years regardless of how physically active they are otherwise, Australian researchers determined after examining data on more than 222,000 people aged 45 and older. Even sitting eight hours a day raises your risk of impending death by 15 percent, they found. "The evidence on the detrimental health effects of prolonged sitting has been building over the last few years," said study author Hidde van der Ploeg, a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney. "The study stands out because of its large number of participants and the fact that it was one of the first that was able to look at total sitting time. Most of the evidence to date had been on the health risks of prolonged television viewing." Average adults spend 90 percent of their leisure time sitting down, van der Ploeg said, and fewer than half meet World Health Organization recommendations for 150 minutes of at least moderate-intensity physical activity each week. The study is published in the March 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. The data was collected as part of Australia's 45 and Up Study, a large, ongoing study of healthy aging. Strikingly, the elevated risks for dying from all causes remained even after taking into account participants' physical activity, weight, and health status. Because many people must sit for long hours at their jobs, they should make sure a greater portion of their leisure time is spent standing, walking, or engaging in other movement, said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of women and heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and a spokesperson for the American Heart Association. "Yes, you have to work, but when you go home it's so important you don't go back to sitting in front of the computer or television," Steinbaum said. "After the eight-hour mark, the risks go up exponentially. It's really about what you're doing in your leisure time and making the decision to move." Source: An article by Maureen Salamon for HealthDay.com

health australia 45 and up study activity sitting hidde van der ploeg
Get a move on if you know what's good for you

22 Jul 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In biblical times people did a lot of walking and physical labor, including the shepherds whose image is used in a variety of contexts—some positive, others not—in the Sunday readings. Now that machines do much of the heavy lifting and carry many people around in cars, physical inactivity is causing 1 in 10 deaths worldwide, studies suggest, putting it on a par with the dangers of smoking and obesity.The results of a series of studies released in the British medical journal The Lanceturged public health officials to treat the situation as a pandemic. Harvard University researchers found inactivity caused an increase in deaths from coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, and breast and colon cancers and led to more than 5.3 million deaths in 2008 worldwide. If physical inactivity rates were to go down by even 10 to 20 percent around the world, researchers said, it could save between a half-million and 1.3 million lives each year. That could also raise global life expectancy by almost a year. One study argued that one-third of adults and close to 80 percent of adolescents worldwide are at increased risk of disease as a result of physical inactivity. Another looked at what specific programs and types of programs work to promote physical activity. "Because even moderate physical activity such as walking and cycling can have substantial health benefits, understanding strategies that can increase these behaviors in different regions and cultures has become a public health priority," wrote Gregory Heath, a researcher from the University of Tennessee and lead author of one study. Heath and his team found that the use of mass-media campaigns to promote exercise, as well as signs to remind people to be active—taking the stairs, for example—had some effect on getting people moving. The team also found that free public exercise events, creating an environment that is conducive to exercise such as bike lanes and walking trails, and improving public transportation also were likely to enhance physical activity. Source: An article by Matt Sloane for CNN

health the lancet disease gregory heath physical activity
Homily stories

03 Jun 2018 - Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), Cycle B

As a lover of words I was fascinated to learn that the root of the word liturgy comes from Latin for “work of the people.” What an amazing insight that brings to the central ritual of Christianity. Breaking bread with fellow Christians, remembering Christ, and sharing in his Body and Blood are actions that early Christians actually considered their work. And what is work? Work has its roots in the Greek word for “activity.” Thus the liturgy is the activity of the people—that means you and I. It is something we are charged to do. We must take, eat, and remember Christ’s life. This is each Christian’s responsibility. It is our job to remember Christ in the activity of sharing a meal in his name, and it is our job to remember that we have a covenant with God that we will be God’s people and do God’s work, which as Jesus tells us today is to take and eat his Body and Blood and become one with Christ. As Christians there’s no getting out of this work, but those who’ve been at it for a while say the benefits are worth it.

Authors Patrice J. Tuohy

work activity liturgy covenant

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