According to a new study, it's important to shift our leisure time into more active pursuits - like walking, hiking and enjoying the outdoors.
According to a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, sitting down for several hours a day increases your risk of dying.
The study, which followed 222,497 Australian adults for several years, found that individuals who sat for at least 11 hours a day had a 40% higher risk of dying within the next three years than people who sat for less than four hours a day.
And exercise doesn’t necessarily mitigate this risk. While regular exercisers had a lower risk of death than non-exercisers, the death risk still rose for active people who sat longer. In other words, your 30 or 60-minute gym routine doesn’t necessarily counteract the increased mortality risk from excessive sitting.
According to the researchers, excessive sitting can’t be blamed entirely on long work hours. In fact, it’s estimated that the average adult spends 90% of their leisure time sitting. And, if you think about the time we spend reading, watching TV, playing computer games or chatting on social networks, I’d have to agree.
The takeaway is pretty simple: Spend more time on your feet. While a stand-up desk could help, it’s important to shift our leisure time into more active pursuits - like taking hikes, walking, playing sports or enjoying the outdoors.
About Davey Wavey
OMFG!! did not know this, kinda weird! what about laying down does that do anything! O_o?
This study is very limited though in regards to statistical significance and the average mean time of follow up in the study. I mean the values in the > or equal to 11 hours are significant, but there is no alpha p value to compare the significance to in the study. There is also no statistical tests to give equality to the baseline characteristics, nor any data pointing to underlying conditions. Sorry for the harsh critique, its just a good practice study for my Drug Lit exam tomorrow.
wow
What about cycling? Because technically you’re sitting then - I assume it’s different because of the movement involved, but did the study say anything about that?
It’s been shown that just being on your feet all day, e.g. a waitress, burns so many more Calories and maintains core muscle tone so much better compared to someone who sits on their ass all day, e.g. a dentist, like me.
Eat healthy foods/drinks and in healthy amounts and stay on your feet and you’ll be OK. Spend what you would on gym membership on healthier food instead! 🙂
Yea… Wow, look at that body, he works out. Mmm.
and yet they put it online….tip. most people if there on a computer they sit most of their lives lol
What about those of us confined to wheel chairs? What might be our options?
Well, I’ve worked a fairly active job for the last 6 years. There are ladies in the office that do a lot of sitting. They’re very much alive. Three years have passed twice. I can’t give this study much credit.
You know some say this is why the Seventh Day Adventists live so long, because group walks are such a part of their bonding time.
I find this very dubious. There are way too many factors to take into account here and to look at something like sitting down?! Im not convinced!
Is driving included in this? I feel a little goofy asking.
every hour or at least every two hours-i go outside-walk the dog.i try to walk away from sedentary work like that.that also goes to walk away from computer after a while especially at home.
Yeah but some of us have to work at a computer all day (8 hours or more) and then we socialize through facebook and twitter (as well as real life!).
So I guess we’re all just gonna die.
I only have a couple years left, maybe. No matter what I do.
Thanks, now I’m depressed.
I find this study a bit ridiculous, firstly it clearly states its testing individuals 45 years old and above, so that already means it doesn’t apply to a huge part of the population, they in the results to have 5405 people die out of 621 695, I would say that is probably about right for house hold accidents, car crashes and other non-sitting related injuries.
The other problem I have with this study is they have interviewed 222 497 individuals but collected data about deaths from 621 695. That is not a good scientific study as there are 399 198 individuals that have been added into the follow up with no questioning of their sitting habits?
sorry davey, but I think this study is pretty bad.
xx
As people have said, there is an issue with this study and article… You have a 40% greater chance of dying in the next 3 years than what? What is the chance you will die in the next 3 years? Say it’s 2%- if you sit for 11 hours a day, you now have a 2.8% chance of dying in the next 3 years. Plus everything is held constant- what age group is this? Adults are 18+. The chance of an 18 year old dying in the next 3 years is significantly less than that of a 100 year old. I’m sure they have the stats on it, but it’s easier to just say this. I know it’s bad to be sitting a lot & I’m a constant exerciser, so I guess it’s not the worst story/study.
Never mind.. I clicked the link for the study- It’s pretty insignificant.