Is Sitting a Death Sentence?

Are you sitting too much? Modern life offers lots of opportunities to sit. We may be doing so much sitting that even exercise might not be able to help us as we thought it would. According to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine sitting may actually be killing us.

The study includes 8,000 Americans over than  45 years-old. Over the course of a 16 hour day, sitting made up an average of 12.3 hours. We are spending an average of 77% of our time sitting.

The findings indicate that those who sit for spells longer than a half hour have an increased risk of early death and were in worse shape. There is something going on in the body where prolonged sitting is causing body deterioration.

Their solution...get up every half hour.

Keep the body moving and get up every once in a while to get a drink of water, stand, or move your feet. The blood should be moving throughout your body.

Exercise can go a long way in reducing heart disease and countering the effects of a sedentary life. Yet the study found that getting up in addition to exercise helps use keep us less likely to fall ill.

Their conclusion: "Both the total volume of sedentary time and its accrual in prolonged, uninterrupted bouts are associated with all-cause mortality, suggestive that physical activity guidelines should target reducing and interrupting sedentary time to reduce risk for death."

Click this Link to Read the Study