Use it or lose it — the hazards of bed rest and inactivity
updated
Corcoran PJ. Use it or lose it — the hazards of bed rest and inactivity. Western Journal of Medicine. 1991 May;154(5):536–538. PubMed #1866946.
Tags: exercise, sedentariness, self-treatment, treatment
original abstract†Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
Professional experience and lay wisdom teach us the benefits of exercise and the hazards of idleness. Yet the myth persists that “bed rest is good for you” when ill or convalescing. Abundant scientific evidence in the past 50 years has demonstrated the specific damage done to each of the body's organ systems by inactivity. Both aging and inactivity lead to strikingly similar kinds of deterioration. I summarize the data from military and veterans' hospitals, rehabilitation experience, aerospace research, and gerontology and review the physiologic and metabolic changes of aging and inactivity, along with strategies to help prevent the iatrogenic complications of bed rest.
related content
One article on PainScience.com cites Corcoran 1991 as a source:
- PS The Trouble with Chairs — The science of being sedentary and how much it does (or doesn’t) affect your health and back pain
