Sitting For Too Long Can Increase The Risk Of Early Death: Study

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If you have a job or lifestyle where you have to sit for prolonged period of time, then you are not just at a risk of developing several health problems but early death as well.

A recent study has warned that people who sit for one to two hours at a time may have a higher risk of early death than those who sit cumulatively as long, but in shorter bouts.

The researchers used hip-mounted activity monitors to objectively measure inactivity during waking time over a period of seven days in 7,985 black and white adults over age 45.

On average, sedentary behaviour accounted for 77 per cent of the participants' waking hours, equivalent to more than 12 hours per day. Over a median follow-up period of four years, 340 of the participants died.

Mortality risk was calculated for those with various amounts of total sedentary time and various sedentary patterns. Those with the greatest amount of sedentary time - more than 13 hours per day and who frequently had sedentary bouts of at least 60 to 90 consecutive minutes had a nearly two-fold increase in death risk compared with those who had the least total sedentary time and the shortest sedentary bouts.

The researchers also found that participants who kept most of their sitting bouts to less than 30 minutes had the lowest risk of death.

"We tend to think of sedentary behaviour as just the sheer volume of how much we sit around each day," said Keith Diaz, associate research scientist at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) in the US.

"But previous studies have suggested that sedentary patterns - whether an individual accrues sedentary time through several short stretches or fewer long stretches of time - may have an impact on health," said Diaz, lead investigator of the study.

The study was recently published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.