Oturmak Yeni Sigara mı? — Transcript

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1. 0:00How are you watching this video right now?
2. 0:02Could you take a quick look at yourself, please?
3. 0:03Your back is probably a little hunched right now, isn't it?
4. 0:06Your shoulders have slumped forward.
5. 0:08Maybe you've tucked one leg underneath you.
6. 0:11Or maybe your neck is stretched out toward the screen.
7. 0:13How do I know?
8. 0:14Well, while I was writing this script,
9. 0:16I was sitting in exactly that position.
10. 0:19Because we're all sitting, all the time.
11. 0:21And even though we've heard provocative slogans like "sitting is the new smoking,"
12. 0:24we keep on sitting.
13. 0:27Yes, I doubt there's anyone who doesn't know
14. 0:30how harmful it is to stay still for long.
15. 0:31We're well aware it's no good for our heart, our blood vessels or our back.
16. 0:36So if we know all this,
17. 0:37why can't any of us get out of our seats?
18. 0:40We sit while studying for exams.
19. 0:42We sit while writing code.
20. 0:44We sit again, hopping from one meeting to the next.
21. 0:47We've literally turned into couch potatoes.
22. 0:49By the way, this isn't a potato.
23. 0:51I'm not a fan of the potato metaphor, so I made this one out of a sponge.
24. 0:54It's been sitting here since this morning, watching me.
25. 0:57I even gave it a name because of that. I called it Pofi.
26. 1:00It's a real sea sponge.
27. 1:02Something like this, you see.
28. 1:03And this is its sibling.
29. 1:05They both come from the same place. The same sea.
30. 1:07But this one has been sitting idle on a chair here since morning, bored.
31. 1:12The other one sits in the water. It gets squeezed.
32. 1:14Actually, we have these inside us too.
33. 1:18Huge ones, in fact.
34. 1:19The muscles in our legs and hips are exactly like sponges.
35. 1:23The more we sit, the more they dry out, just like Pofi.
36. 1:26We'll soon see why they dry out and how we can soak them again.
37. 1:30And I promise you,
38. 1:31halfway through this video, you won't be able to resist getting up.
39. 1:34But first, let's take a look at that famous slogan.
40. 1:42The first person to notice the link between sitting and the heart
41. 1:46was a doctor in 1950s London.
42. 1:48Heart attacks were rising fast in those years, and nobody really knew why.
43. 1:53The doctor must have been obsessed with this question, because one day,
44. 1:56as he boarded one of those famous red double-deckers, an idea came to him.
45. 2:00Maybe while they punched his ticket, or
46. 2:02maybe watching the conductor huffing up and down the stairs, I don't know.
47. 2:06But in the end, each of these buses had two people working on it.
48. 2:10One was the driver. He sits at the wheel all day. He has to sit.
49. 2:14The other was the conductor. All day long, on those narrow stairs,
50. 2:17he keeps running up and down. He has to run.
51. 2:21So much so that he had to climb more than 500 steps a day
52. 2:24back in those years.
53. 2:26In other words, a perfect controlled experiment.
54. 2:28Because they're on the same bus.
55. 2:30They ride through the same traffic.
56. 2:31Everything happens right there.
57. 2:33And of our two subjects, one is a person who sits, the other a person who walks.
58. 2:38That was the idea that came to the doctor on that bus.
59. 2:41To run a controlled experiment
60. 2:42and compare the health records of drivers and conductors.
61. 2:46Even their causes of death.
62. 2:48For years, he compares the records of these two types of workers.
63. 2:53Here's what he finds.
64. 2:54Deaths from heart attacks among drivers
65. 2:56were twice as high as among conductors.
66. 3:00Hmm, maybe those who died of heart attacks were very overweight.
67. 3:03Maybe weight is the problem, maybe drivers were chosen from heavier men anyway,
68. 3:07that's the question that naturally comes to mind, right?
69. 3:10But to figure that out, the doctor looked at a completely different record.
70. 3:12Trouser sizes.
71. 3:14The trousers of the uniforms the bus company gave its staff.
72. 3:17He compared drivers and conductors with the same waist size.
73. 3:21And of course, as you guessed, once again the conductor who climbed the stairs,
74. 3:25the one who moved, came out healthier.
75. 3:28Yes, my friends, this is history's first major evidence
76. 3:32that inactivity can make us sick, that it can make us unhealthy.
77. 3:35Even though some 70-odd years have passed since then,
78. 3:39most of us still haven't learned from it, unfortunately.
79. 3:42And of course, since jobs like the conductor's,
80. 3:43where you have to keep getting up and sitting down, are becoming rare,
81. 3:47we're all glued to our seats at our desks, acting like that driver.
82. 3:52Even though nothing forces us to.
83. 3:54Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles
84. 3:57staring at computer screens all day.
85. 3:59Nope, not at all.
86. 4:01I do my workouts just fine.
87. 4:03I go to the gym at least 3 days a week.
88. 4:05On weekends we even play pickup soccer with friends.
89. 4:08All that moving wears me out.
90. 4:10I'm dripping with sweat, some of you will say, of course.
91. 4:13That doesn't mean you're not a couch potato.
92. 4:16Scientists have a name for this.
93. 4:18That's why I keep calling you potatoes.
94. 4:20Sorry, don't take it personally.
95. 4:21People in the situation I just described are called active couch potatoes.
96. 4:26Because yes, working out at the gym 3 days a week,
97. 4:29playing pickup soccer on weekends, that's all great.
98. 4:32But if you keep sitting 8 to 10 hours a day without getting up,
99. 4:36your evening workout alone can't undo the effects, unfortunately.
100. 4:40But let's not get too gloomy just yet.
101. 4:43The fix is much smaller than we think.
102. 4:45Sit less, move more.
103. 4:47A very simple rule.
104. 4:48And it shouldn't be hard to follow. Right?
105. 4:51Wrong. Because for our brain, that's far too vague a command.
106. 4:55You know how a doctor writes you something like,
107. 4:57take this medicine 3 times a day, 8 hours apart.
108. 5:00A very clear formula.
109. 5:01So of course we say, I'll take it 3 times, 8 hours apart, and we do, right?
110. 5:05Because there's a clear dose.
111. 5:08But when someone tells you "just get up once in a while,"
112. 5:11with our heads buried in a question, some code or a meeting,
113. 5:15that "once in a while" never comes, does it?
114. 5:18How often should we get up?
115. 5:19When we get up, how long should we walk?
116. 5:21Is 1 minute enough? Do we need half an hour?
117. 5:236,000 steps? 10,000? How many?
118. 5:25A researcher and his team in New York set out to measure exactly that.
119. 5:28Like searching for the smallest effective dose of a new drug,
120. 5:31they sought the smallest dose of movement that undoes the harm of sitting.
121. 5:35They invited volunteers to a lab and had them sit for a full 8 hours.
122. 5:38Like a real school or work day.
123. 5:40They work on computers, read books, check their phones.
124. 5:44Their meals are brought right to their desks.
125. 5:46So there's no need to get up at all.
126. 5:48But of course, they didn't treat everyone the same.
127. 5:50As always in controlled experiments.
128. 5:52Some got up and walked now and then.
129. 5:54Some for 1 minute every hour, some for 5 minutes every hour,
130. 5:57some for 1 minute every half hour, some for 5 minutes every half hour.
131. 6:02And of course, one group never gets up at all. Just like us.
132. 6:05By the way, what the walkers did
133. 6:06wasn't power walking, running, jogging or anything like that.
134. 6:09They walk down a hallway, as if window shopping. A leisurely walk.
135. 6:13Even 1 minute of walking an hour lowered blood pressure by 4 to 5 points, friends.
136. 6:18In a single day, no less.
137. 6:19But for blood sugar, only one of the 5 groups came out ahead.
138. 6:24Those who walked 5 minutes every half hour.
139. 6:27In them, the blood sugar spike after meals
140. 6:30was 58% smaller. More than half.
141. 6:33So why every half hour and not every hour?
142. 6:36The answer is right here. In Pofi.
143. 6:38I didn't choose the sponge metaphor for nothing.
144. 6:40And I didn't make it up, either.
145. 6:42The researcher behind this experiment also likens our muscles to sponges.
146. 6:46Our muscles are like sponges for blood sugar.
147. 6:48When we regularly use and contract our muscles,
148. 6:51they're like a moist sponge, soaking up the sugar from the bloodstream.
149. 6:55They soak it up.
150. 6:56But when? When they contract.
151. 6:58If a sponge just sits in the water, not much happens.
152. 7:01But the moment you squeeze and release it, it draws the water in.
153. 7:04So for once, getting squeezed is a good thing.
154. 7:06Where are the biggest muscles in our body?
155. 7:08In our legs and hips.
156. 7:10And as we walk and take the stairs, these muscles contract and relax
157. 7:14and pull the sugar out of our blood.
158. 7:16Without waiting for insulin.
159. 7:18When we sit for hours, this giant sponge, the one in our legs and hips,
160. 7:23just stays on the chair like Pofi and dries out.
161. 7:27The damp one soaks up water right away, while the dry one just floats.
162. 7:32It struggles to take the water in.
163. 7:33Unused muscles struggle to soak up sugar in just the same way.
164. 7:37The sugar just keeps circulating in the blood.
165. 7:39If you hit the gym in the evening and feel you're off the hook, listen up.
166. 7:42When we exercise, it rewets the sponge.
167. 7:46But eventually, that sponge dries out
168. 7:50if you get little to no movement the rest of your day.
169. 7:52It dries out again, he says. See?
170. 7:53So of course your evening workout soaks your sponges nicely,
171. 7:57but the moment you sit down the next day, they start drying out again.
172. 8:00I don't need it... I don't need it... I don't need it...
173. 8:04The real point is keeping it damp, wet, all day long.
174. 8:08Then there are standing desks.
175. 8:11"I'll get a standing desk, that'll help," some of you will say.
176. 8:15I have one too. I used to think the same.
177. 8:17Turns out standing isn't much different. I learned that.
178. 8:20If you're not moving, if you're just standing at your desk like a nail,
179. 8:25your muscles are still idle, right?
180. 8:27What matters is that the muscle can contract and relax.
181. 8:30In other words, moving, at regular intervals, often.
182. 8:33Another lab looked at the brain.
183. 8:35They had desk workers
184. 8:37sit for 4 hours and measured the blood flow to their brains.
185. 8:40In those who never got up, blood flow slowed.
186. 8:43In those who walked 2 minutes every half hour, it didn't.
187. 8:47There's one more group, by the way.
188. 8:48They got up every 2 hours and walked 8 minutes at a time.
189. 8:52So they saved up their movement.
190. 8:54The total walking time was the same in both groups.
191. 8:56But their blood flow slowed down too.
192. 8:58So it's not about how long you walk, it's about how often you get up.
193. 9:03I've kept you sitting for quite a while now.
194. 9:05So now, please, you get up too. Right now.
195. 9:08One moment, by the way.
196. 9:09Since I'm up, let me pause this.
197. 9:11But you don't need to pause the video.
198. 9:13Take your phone and just start walking.
199. 9:18You can pace up and down the hallway.
200. 9:20If there are stairs nearby, you can go up and down them.
201. 9:23Or you can go to the kitchen.
202. 9:24While you're there, you can pour yourself a glass of water and drink it.
203. 9:265 minutes every half hour.
204. 9:28In an 8-hour day, that adds up to 80 minutes.
205. 9:32Almost the length of a movie.
206. 9:33Isn't that a waste of 5 minutes?
207. 9:35"A 5-minute break every half hour? What about my studies, my work?"
208. 9:39some super-productive friends will ask.
209. 9:41The answer can be found in a very simple question
210. 9:44the volunteers were asked during the experiment, my friends.
211. 9:46They asked them, "How are you feeling?"
212. 9:48Those who walked 5 minutes every half hour felt much more energetic.
213. 9:53They felt less tired.
214. 9:54Their mood lifted.
215. 9:56So you're not throwing those 5 minutes away or wasting them. Don't worry.
216. 10:00When you get back to your desk, you start the next half hour much fresher.
217. 10:04Are you still walking?
218. 10:05While you're walking, let me tell you about one more experiment.
219. 10:08At a university in Canada, they put students through a 50-minute lecture.
220. 10:13For two groups, the lecture was broken up by 3 breaks of 5 minutes each.
221. 10:17One group jumped during the breaks, ran in place, moved around.
222. 10:21The other group played computer games during the breaks.
223. 10:24And what did the third group do?
224. 10:26No breaks at all, of course.
225. 10:27They listened to the whole lecture in one go, with no break.
226. 10:30And when the lecture ended: "Papers out, I'm giving you a test."
227. 10:33Who do you think did better on the test?
228. 10:35You can probably guess by now, right?
229. 10:37The jumpers, of course. The ones who moved.
230. 10:39They were more attentive during the lecture,
231. 10:42and they scored much better on the test.
232. 10:45In other words, the gamers weren't much different from those who took no break.
233. 10:49Okay? You can sit down now.
234. 10:56But let me press this. Yes.
235. 10:58We'll get up again in 25 minutes.
236. 11:00Work 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break. 30 minutes in total.
237. 11:05Longtime viewers of this channel will remember.
238. 11:09Back in 2020, we did a Pomodoro session together here, live, remember?
239. 11:13Notice something?
240. 11:14Turns out the dose found in that lab is exactly the same as the Pomodoro.
241. 11:18The only difference: not spending those 5 minutes in the chair on the phone,
242. 11:21but standing up and squeezing our sponges.
243. 11:24But look, knowing is one thing,
244. 11:27making it a habit is another, right?
245. 11:29When we're working, we don't even notice time passing.
246. 11:32That's why I tried to turn this Pofi into a digital work buddy.
247. 11:37While you work, it keeps you company in its chair. It sits.
248. 11:40When 25 minutes are up, it does something for you. It waves, that sort of thing.
249. 11:44If you don't get up, it starts drying out.
250. 11:47If you do, it heads off toward the sea, toward home.
251. 11:51It can also connect to your phone.
252. 11:53So from now on, Pofi remembers that "once in a while" for you.
253. 11:56It's a very simple thing.
254. 11:57Don't set your expectations too high,
255. 12:00but I'm sharing it in case it's useful to you too.
256. 12:02I put it on my website.
257. 12:04The link is down below.
258. 12:05While that doctor was studying buses, in those same years,
259. 12:07in the same city, another doctor was on the trail of lung cancer.
260. 12:12He found the culprit too. Smoking.
261. 12:14In the 70-odd years since, what hasn't the world done to fight smoking?
262. 12:18It banned the ads.
263. 12:19It printed warnings on the packs.
264. 12:21It pushed smoking out of indoor spaces.
265. 12:24Sitting isn't like that, is it?
266. 12:25Quite the opposite, it's encouraged.
267. 12:27"Don't stand, sit down, sit down," we're told.
268. 12:29Nothing was done about it.
269. 12:30On top of that, our chairs have gotten a little more comfortable every year.
270. 12:34As if we want our sponges to dry out, we look for the nicest, comfiest chairs.
271. 12:39So how fair is this comparison?
272. 12:41Is sitting really the new smoking?
273. 12:44No. Smoking is far more dangerous.
274. 12:46But sitting has a more generous side than smoking.
275. 12:49Quitting smoking can take years.
276. 12:52Breaking up sitting takes 5 minutes.
277. 12:54And every half hour, it gives you another chance.
278. 12:57You know how it goes in movies,
279. 12:59someone gets up from their seat, and that's always the moment things change.
280. 13:04Well, it's the same in real life.
281. 13:05Just not as grand. A bit quieter, simpler.
282. 13:09Nobody applauds you when you do it.
283. 13:11No grand music plays in the background.
284. 13:14But every half hour,
285. 13:15when you get up for 5 minutes, something in your body really changes.
286. 13:20So get up, walk, don't let your sponge dry out.