TOO MUCH SITTING HASTENS DEATH REGARDLESS OF EXERCISE

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Jeffrey Newman

A new study appearing in the American Journal of Epidemiology has found that the amount of time spent sitting can affect your risk of death regardless of physical activity. The authors conclude that public health messages should promote both physical activity and reduced time sitting. Researchers analyzed survey responses from 123,216 individuals who had no history of cancer, heart attack, stroke or lung disease. They found that the amount of time spent sitting was associated with higher risk of mortality. Men who sat more than 6 hours a day were 18% more likely to die than those who sat fewer than 3 hours a day. The researchers commented that prolonged time spent sitting, independent of physical activity has been shown to have important metabolic consequences and influence things like triglycerides, high density lipoprotein, cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose, resting blood pressure and leptin, which are biomarkers of obesity, cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases.http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/kwq155v1