161
Taking regular breaks from sitting may lower risk of dying from cancer, study finds
(hsph.harvard.edu)
this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2026
161 points (97.6% liked)
science
29205 readers
374 users here now
A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.
dart board;; science bs
rule #1: be kind
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I mean, it's just not something people are biologically supposed to be doing for a long time.
I mean like, what is it about standing or even light movement that is so distinct on a biological/cellula level?
The appeal to whats natural or kind of teleollogical doesnt address that, like is there an actual material theory about "this is your body on sitting..."
Purely a guess on my part, but I imagine a not-insignificant amount of this is simply bloodflow. If cancer is a disruption in the cellular replication mechanics, then we're looking at protein folding, DNA replication, and ion pumps and cell stuff. Perhaps not "taking out the trash" via blood flow allows higher rates of cellular corruption? Maybe lower bloodflow results in weaker cell self-destructs? Lots of candidates...
Since we're guessing, I'd guess lymph is part of it. It's part of our immune systems, but, unlike blood which has its own pumping mechanism (the heart), lymph gets moved along passively.