Campus Review Volume 28 Issue 12 December 2018 | Seite 25

news
campusreview.com.au
Sitting myth
up in smoke
Researchers slam media
and scientists who peddle
myth about sitting.
W
hen it comes to your health,
sitting does not equal smoking.
That’s the crux of a new piece
in the American Journal of Public Health,
which seeks to correct the media (and
science)-driven myth.
An international team of researchers,
including the University of South
Australia’s Dr Terry Boyle, evaluated
research on sitting as compared to
smoking. While they concluded that
excessive sitting (more than eight hours
a day) is indeed unhealthy, it is vastly
healthier than smoking.
While excessive sitting increases a
person’s risk of premature death and
certain chronic diseases by 10–20 per
cent, smoking does this by around
180 per cent.
Boyle, an epidemiologist, noted
that media articles spreading the false
message increased 12-fold between
2012 and 2016, and some respected
scientists and institutions jumped on
board. Culprits included Time magazine,
The Los Angeles Times, The European
Journal of Public Health, and the Mayo
Clinic – to name a few.
He outlined just how big a furphy
the smoking-sitting equation is: “While
people who sit a lot have around a
League of Legends Twitter
Scholarships for gamers
Queensland uni wants video game enthusiasts
to join elite athletes program.
S
tudents who were told that video games would rot their
brain might now have a good comeback – should they
win one of the $10,000 e-sports scholarships on offer at
the Queensland University of Technology.
6
10–20 per cent increased risk of some
cancers and cardiovascular disease,
smokers have more than double the risk
of dying from cancer and cardiovascular
disease, and a more than 1000 per cent
increased risk of lung cancer.
“The economic impact and number
of deaths caused by smoking-
attributable diseases far outweighs
those of sitting,” Boyle said.
“For example, the annual global
cost of smoking-attributable diseases
was estimated at US$467 billion
($646 billion) in 2012, and smoking is
expected to cause at least one billion
deaths in the 21st century.
“Finally, unlike smoking, sitting is
neither an addiction nor a danger
to others.”
Boyle said that equating smoking
with sitting is a public health risk, as it
trivialises the harm caused by and risks
associated with smoking.
“Betteridge’s Law of Headlines
states that any headline that ends in a
question mark can be answered by the
word ‘no’. Is sitting the new smoking?
No,” the researchers concluded. ■
The university recently announced it will award five $10,000
scholarships to those who show prowess in the game League of
Legends in 2019.
The e-sports scholarships will be offered in the elite athlete
category of the Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarships program.
Applicants will battle it out on 5 January at the selection
trials at the university’s eSports Arena. Each winner will go on
to represent the university in the 2019 season of the League of
Legends Oceanic Challenger Series (OCS).
QUT made its debut at the tournament last year, becoming
the first university team to battle the paid athletes competing.
The QUT Tigers, as the team was called, finished eighth out of
14 teams.
Dylan Poulus, a gaming psychology researcher and QUT
e-sports club co-founder, said the scholarships signalled that
the booming e-sports industry was cementing its place among
traditional sports.
“E-sports at QUT has just exploded – we’re so excited to have
these new scholarships,” Poulus said. “It’s going to be really
competitive and completely merit based. Our current team can
apply and so can anyone else who’s coming to QUT next year
and thinks they have what it takes to play in the OCS.”
Emily Rosemond, coordinator of QUT’s Elite Athletes
Program, said the university has been working to integrate
e-sports into the broader program and provide the same
sort of support structures it offers high-performance athletes
and teams.
“This is being consolidated by making e-sports athletes
eligible for Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarships,” Rosemond said. ■