# Is eating two or three big meals in day hard on your body? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 14, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853 "2016-08-14T23:13:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/41 "2016-08-17T19:11:12Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Every book, magazine, media and such talk about being on air plane or being in car on road and you need to get up and move around do not sit for too long. Everyone knows being on air plane or being in car you can get body stiffness and by getting up and walking around it helps. No one yes no one no book, magazine, media or web sites talks about computer IT jobs or sitting home in front of TV and getting stiffness. I was going to google and bring up a few cites, but beowulf already did that. (Although they should be ashamed of including a link to mercola.) Instead I’ll describe what happened when I typed “Your desk job” into the search bar, namely I got four suggestions: your desk job is killing you your desk job makes you fat sick and dead your desk job makes you fat quit your desk job ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/42 "2016-08-17T19:11:43Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > Except most of us aren’t running down wildebeests. We’re sitting in cubicles staring at computer screens for 9 hours a day. I would hate to see what would happen to some one who is in hospital for day or two and they have to lay in bed?:(:(☹ It must be really bad for them. I DON’T think there is any medical science explaining why people get body stiffness from sitting or laying. Some people can sit and lay for 4 hours and other people can sit or lay for 6 hours what is going on here? The medical science at lost?] And doctors are too fast to scream restless leg syndrome? ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/43 "2016-08-17T19:18:51Z")
> [@naita](#): > > I was going to google and bring up a few cites, but beowulf already did that. (Although they should be ashamed of including a link to mercola.) > > Instead I’ll describe what happened when I typed “Your desk job” into the search bar, namely I got four suggestions: > > your desk job is killing you > your desk job makes you fat sick and dead > your desk job makes you fat > quit your desk job Yes I know talks about all the things like getting fat,heart problems and not good on your body but they do not talk about body stiffness from sitting or laying too much. And I know some work places the new health plan is every hour or two you have to get up and walk around for 15 minutes!! But no work place is going make you get up every hour and walk around for 15 minutes!! When money rules the world. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/44 "2016-08-17T19:19:42Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > I would hate to see what would happen to some one who is in hospital for day or two and they have to lay in bed?:(:(☹ > > It must be really bad for them. > > I DON’T think there is any medical science explaining why people get body stiffness from sitting or laying. > > Some people can sit and lay for 4 hours and other people can sit or lay for 6 hours what is going on here? The medical science at lost?] > > And doctors are too fast to scream restless leg syndrome? What is it you want to know, and why? Do you really care about the exact biomechanism of inactivity-induced stiffness? Why do you care? It’s a well-documented fact, and the treatment is also well-documented. As for lying in a hospital bed - yes, it’s bad for the patient. If you can move, they will make you get up several times each day and walk. If not, you are going to be weak and stiff when you finally are healthy enough to get out of bed. If you are truly immobile, the nurses will turn you to reduce bed sores. I was in the hospital for 5 days, and they had me walk the day after heart surgery. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/45 "2016-08-17T19:35:09Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > What is it you want to know, and why? > Do you really care about the exact biomechanism of inactivity-induced stiffness? Why do you care? It’s a well-documented fact, and the treatment is also well-documented. > > As for lying in a hospital bed - yes, it’s bad for the patient. If you can move, they will make you get up several times each day and walk.\*\* If not, you are going to be weak and stiff \*\*when _you finally are healthy enough to get out of bed_. If you are truly immobile, the nurses will turn you to reduce bed sores. > > I was in the hospital for 5 days, and they had me walk the day after heart surgery. May be I did not explain my self the body stiffness is not when I get up and walk around. It is laying or sitting for some time :mad::mad: I have stiffness and urge to move and by getting up and walking around it helps. It not like I get out of bed in morning or sit up after 5 hours of TV and I’m like oh oh oh oh oh I’m so stiff I can hardly walk I’m so stiff. The body stiffness is sitting or laying too much like 4 to 5 hours of sitting or laying. Some days okay and other days are worse. It feels sorta of like restless leg syndrome a urge to get up and walk around. Really strange. I never heard of this medical problem from people sitting or laying too much. I seen similar body stiffness for some one on air plane or in car. But after 6 or 8 hours they normally stiff a bit walking. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/46 "2016-08-17T19:37:37Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Yes I know talks about all the things like getting fat,heart problems and not good on your body but they do not talk about body stiffness from sitting or laying too much. In general medical science is more interested in researching actual illnesses than vague, common and harmless conditions. But there are actual diseases where immobility causes stiffness and pain, and I would wager a guess that some of the knowledge about those is transferable to the general population: [Why Your Joints Are Stiff or Painful in the Morning](http://www.healthcentral.com/osteoarthritis/c/23101/34051/morning/) > [@](#): > > What is happening on a pathophysiologic basis within the joints? > With rest, the joint fluid is soaked up by the cartilage within the joint similar to how a sponge soaks up water. When the joint is used, the cartilage is “squeezed” and the joint fluid bathes the joint. The more the joint is used, the more the joint fluid coats and lubricates the inner joint. > [@](#): > > Stretching and strengthening the muscles surrounding arthritic joints helps take the pressure off the joint so that they are less painful and less stiff when they first start moving, and also less painful and stiff while they are being used. > > Of course, there are many causes of joint pain and stiffness. Morning stiffness may be caused by osteoarthritis, but it may not. Get yourself checked out by your doctor so that you can arrive at an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment plan. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/47 "2016-08-17T19:40:11Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Yes I know talks about all the things like getting fat,heart problems and not good on your body but they do not talk about body stiffness from sitting or laying too much. > > And I know some work places the new health plan is every hour or two you have to get up and walk around for 15 minutes!! But no work place is going make you get up every hour and walk around for 15 minutes!! When money rules the world. Most office environments no longer chain employees to their desks. You can get up and move any time you want. Managers are not your physical therapists. It’s not their job to remind you to get up move every hour on the hour. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/48 "2016-08-17T19:45:24Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > May be I did not explain my self the body stiffness is not when I get up and walk around. It is laying or sitting for some time :mad::mad: I have stiffness and urge to move and by getting up and walking around it helps. This is called being “restless.” See: “little kids” in the dictionary. It is normal. Move on with your life. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/49 "2016-08-17T19:49:43Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > It is normal. Move on with your life. Easy for you to say. Who’s gonna hold down the sofa and make sure the TV is still working for 5 hours at a stretch? ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/50 "2016-08-17T20:08:52Z")
The body stiffness is mostly in the leg some times the back and hip but it is mostly the leg. No joint pain. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/51 "2016-08-17T20:10:23Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > The body stiffness is mostly in the leg some times the back and hip but it is mostly the leg. > > No joint pain. That’s your body’s way of telling you to get off your ass and walk. Capiche? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/52 "2016-08-17T21:34:30Z")
I having been sitting down for 16 years straight. No stiffness. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/53 "2016-08-17T21:37:33Z")
> [@naita](#): > > I was going to google and bring up a few cites, but beowulf already did that. (Although they should be ashamed of including a link to mercola.) > > Instead I’ll describe what happened when I typed “Your desk job” into the search bar, namely I got four suggestions: > > your desk job is killing you > your desk job makes you fat sick and dead > your desk job makes you fat > quit your desk job My desk job may be killing me, but what that really means is it’ll take 2 years off my life expectancy. Have you met people who work in physical labor? By the time they hit 50 many are in chronic pain, disabled, limited in their range of motion, etc. I’ll take 2 fewer years of life expectancy instead of the final 30 years of chronic pain. No matter what you do, everyone gets sick and dies. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/54 "2016-08-17T23:03:53Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I having been sitting down for 16 years straight. No stiffness. 😕 How long are you sitting and watching TV? Or how long are you laying in bed? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/55 "2016-08-17T23:08:38Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > How long are you sitting and watching TV? > > Or how long are you laying in bed? **Ambi** is a paraplegic and a bodybuilder. He has photos [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=539257&page=22). ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/56 "2016-08-18T04:54:47Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > My desk job may be killing me, but what that really means is it’ll take 2 years off my life expectancy. > > Have you met people who work in physical labor? By the time they hit 50 many are in chronic pain, disabled, limited in their range of motion, etc. > > I’ll take 2 fewer years of life expectancy instead of the final 30 years of chronic pain. > > No matter what you do, everyone gets sick and dies. The choice is most definitely not longer life expectancy or longer period of disability. And for most of us it is not a choice between being a lower SES manual laborer doing often highly repetitive difficult physical work for many hours a day often under difficult and potentially toxic conditions for decades or being sedentary at a desk all day living a higher SES lifestyle. The simple fact is that just avoiding being completely inactive, let alone achieving very moderate levels of exercise, as part of a desk based job, very modestly increases life expectancy and very dramatically increases the years of disability-free life expectancy - of both physical and cognitive disability. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/57 "2016-08-18T06:27:41Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > My desk job may be killing me, but what that really means is it’ll take 2 years off my life expectancy. > > Have you met people who work in physical labor? By the time they hit 50 many are in chronic pain, disabled, limited in their range of motion, etc. > > I’ll take 2 fewer years of life expectancy instead of the final 30 years of chronic pain. > > No matter what you do, everyone gets sick and dies. My post wasn’t meant as a wake-up call to desk-jockeys. It was a response to what I mistakenly thought was sweat209’s statement about there being no mention of the issues of desk jobs. ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/58 "2016-08-18T07:00:37Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Everyone knows being on air plane or being in car you can get body stiffness and by getting up and walking around it helps. The combination of not moving and a cramped seat makes for a significant risk of blood clots, which can be very bad news. Moving around stops your blood from clotting in your veins. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/59 "2016-08-18T07:04:29Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Every book, magazine, media and such talk about being on air plane or being in car on road and you need to get up and move around do not sit for too long. Everyone knows being on air plane or being in car you can get body stiffness and by getting up and walking around it helps. No one yes no one no book, magazine, media or web sites talks about computer IT jobs or sitting home in front of TV and getting stiffness. Yes, magazines do talk about moving around when you work in an office; then again, the immense majority of books ever written do not even mention planes… exaggerate much? In theory companies in developed countries are required by safety labor laws to explain to their desk jockeys about sitting up straight and moving. I’ve gotten The Desk Jockey Talk in every job I’ve held since 1998, as even those that required moving around (lab tech) involved some time at a desk. > [@sweat209](#): > > I would hate to see what would happen to some one who is in hospital for day or two and they have to lay in bed?:(:(☹ > > It must be really bad for them. First, being in bed (whether at the hospital or at home) doesn’t mean being completely immobilized. Second, when someone indeed cannot move by themselves, one of the jobs of their caretakers is to move them around, both to prevent loss of muscle tone (takes more time) and to prevent bedsores (happens faster, specially in people with diabetes and in older patients). ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853/60 "2016-08-18T07:55:16Z")
> [@naita](#): > > My post wasn’t meant as a wake-up call to desk-jockeys. It was a response to what I mistakenly thought was sweat209’s statement about there being no mention of the issues of desk jobs. Well because I think like want the other poster said above that books, web sites, magazines are going to talk about illness, medical symptoms that are problem and require treatment of some kind of medical problem. Not mundane problems or symptoms where there is no medical problem. It sorta of like saying why is it when you stand for 8 hours your legs are sore or if go days will out sleep I feel xx and cannot find it in books, web sites, magazines? Likewise research going into heath risk and prevention of illness. A sanitary lifestyle and IT jobs are prone to being fat, heart problems, diabetes, bad for your joints so on. That the mass media, books, web sites, magazines are not going to talk about mundane problems. Likewise when you go and see a doctor. They may that yes sitting long time on air plane or in car is bad and being couch potato is bad and prone to heath problems. But will not get into symptoms that have no illness. That it is common sense that if you sit for a long time you will have body stiffness and by getting up and walking around will make it go away. But we are going to talk about it in books, web sites, magazines. We talk about the risk of sanitary lifestyle, being couch potato, bad food diet but we are not going to be talking about biomechanism of inactivity-induced stiffness of body of sitting or laying too much!! And why some people can sit or lay longer than other people and why some people less. But common by mass media sitting on air plane or in car you will have stiffness and feel urge to get up and walk around. But we will not cover this laying in bed or sitting in front of TV too long. Of why you feel this way and what is going on. Only risk and prone to problems down the road of you don’t turn your life around. May be some people body their muscles go into a stiffness mode sooner than other people body just by sitting or laying too long. And medical science cannot explain it or why or what is going on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-eating-two-or-three-big-meals-in-day-hard-on-your-body/762853.md?page=4)