Always fidgeting?

Well, you just might be doing yourself a world of good

Study of 12,000 UK women found fidgeters could be protecting themselves against effects of
sitting for long periods at work The study builds on work highlighting dangers of spending long
periods sitting, even for people who are physically active out of office hours.
People who spend most of the day sitting down could undo some of the damage to
their health by having a good fidget, say researchers.
The harmful effects of sitting down for too long are well established, with a series of
studies now showing that spending hours in a chair each day can take years off a
persons life.
But a new study of more than 12,000 UK women suggests that those who claimed
to fidget the most were apparently protected against the ravages of being seated.
The women who sat still for hours on end were more likely to have died over the
course of the study than those whose limbs tapped, wobbled and gently vibrated.
Those of us who are more fidgety seem to have better long term health outcomes,
said Janet Cade, professor of nutritional epidemiology at the University of Leeds.
The findings suggest that work colleagues who are constantly tapping their feet
might be encouraged to carry on rather than urged to stop, and that teachers might
want to rethink their advice to similarly lively school children.
It might be a good thing to fidget. I dont think we are going to train people to fidget
for health reasons, but its interesting that these small, active movements could be
beneficial, said Cade.
In the study, 12,778 women aged 37 to 78 were asked to provide information on their
average daily sitting time and to score the amount they fidgeted on a scale from one
to 10, with one being no fidgeting at all and 10 being constant fidgeting.
Prof. Janet Cade also gathered details on their diets, exercise regimes, and how much
they smoked and drank alcohol. The women were first approached between 1999
and 2002 and followed up 12 years later.
Cade divided the women into three groups, namely low, middle and high fidgeters.
Writing in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, she found that women who
sat for seven or more hours a day were 30% more likely to have died from any cause
than those who sat for five or less hours, but only if they were low fidgeters. Those in
the middle and high fidgeting groups had no greater risk of dying when they sat for
the longer periods.
The study builds on work that has highlighted the dangers of spending long
periods sitting down, even for people who are physically active out of office hours.
The findings are only suggestive so far, because the women may have fidgeted
more or less than they thought. Another unknown is whether fidgeting is a proxy
for something else that impacts on peoples health.
But Cade said the link is worth looking into. It is possible, she said, that fidgeting
might alter physiological processes even when the activity level is far below that of
more conventional exercise.
While further research is needed, the findings raise questions about whether the
negative associations with fidgeting, such as rudeness or lack of concentration,
should persist if such simple movements are beneficial, she said.
The NHS recommends that adults get about 150 minutes of moderate exercise a
week. But Cade points out that even adults who achieve this, and sleep for eight

hours a night, can still spend more than 15 hours a day being sedentary if they
put their minds to it.
Gareth Hagger-Johnson, a co-author on the study at University College, London,
added: Our results support the suggestion that its best to avoid sitting still for
long periods of time, and even fidgeting may offer enough of a break to make a
difference.