This Explains It
An interesting study has determined that fidgeting is key to keeping your weight low. No real surprise here; I'm unable to sit still except for very brief periods, and I'm pretty skinny. What's most interesting about the study is how precise it is, and also the detail about the subjects having to wear underwear with sensors in it. The things people do in the name of science...
Yes I've heard fidgety children are less likely to be overweight.
Posted by:Secret Scholar | 2005.01.28 at 07:13 AM
I have to say that most of these studies seem to me a bit too much "ooh! the magic perfect solution!" and a bit too much putting the cart before the horse. I admit I didn't read this one, and it seems much more sensible than the "magic diet used by [x]" . . . but what's the internet for if not wild speculations?
Posted by:wolfangel | 2005.01.30 at 12:13 AM
It's certainly not a magical solution! (If only because fidgetting only takes care of about 350 calories/day -- which one could manage just by not eating a brownie or something.)
What I found most interesting about the study is that people are apparently hard-wired to fidget -- or not; even when both groups (fidgetters and non-) excercised the same amount, it was what they did when they were just resting, and not attention to what they were doing. The fidgetters, well, fidgeted, and the others didn't. I don't know if you can _train_ someone to fidget, which would seem to be a question driving a study like this.
Posted by:Rana | 2005.01.30 at 08:42 PM
Ah, but 100 cal/day is 1 lb/wk! When you're down past easy things like brownie elimination and switching to artificial coffee-sweetener, and you must either get some exercise or (gasp!) stop drinking beer (the horror!)... then fidgeting is important.
I don't know if you can train people to fidget (or to stay still) but I'm sure you can set up workstations that promote fidgetiness. Crappy chairs aren't just cheap, they're the solution to the obesity epidemic!
Posted by:yami | 2005.01.31 at 08:55 PM
*snort*
If that's true, they need to study my current chair as a possible prototype. It's horrible!
Posted by:Rana | 2005.01.31 at 08:59 PM
A mysterious screw just fell out of mine. Weight loss, here I come!
Posted by:yami | 2005.01.31 at 09:00 PM
*giggles*
(We're not getting much work done here, are we?)
Posted by:Rana | 2005.01.31 at 09:10 PM