Get Up. Get Out. Don’t Sit.

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“…New research this month finds that the more time someone spends sitting, the shorter and less robust his or her life may be. The findings were sobering: Every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life expectancy by 21.8 minutes. By comparison, smoking a single cigarette reduces life expectancy by about 11 minutes. Looking more broadly, they concluded that an adult who spends an average of six hours a day watching TV over the course of a lifetime can expect to live 4.8 years fewer than a person who does not watch TV.  Those results hold true even for people who exercise regularly. It appears a person who does a lot of exercise but watches six hours of TV every night might have a similar mortality risk as someone who does not exercise and watches no TV…”The researchers found that those people with the “highest sedentary behavior,” meaning those who sat the most, had a 112 percent increase in their relative risk of developing diabetes; a 147 percent increase in their risk for cardiovascular disease; and a 49 percent greater risk of dying prematurely — even if they regularly exercised.

“We might convince ourselves that we are not at risk of disease because we manage the recommended 30 minutes of exercise a day.” But, she says, we “are still at risk if we sit all day…If you exercise for 30 minutes a day, she says, “take time to reflect on your activity levels for the remaining 23.5 hours,” and aim to “be active, sit less.”

See full article at NY Times: Get Up. Get Out. Don’t Sit. – NYTimes.com.

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23 thoughts on “Get Up. Get Out. Don’t Sit.”

  4. Thanks for the reminder, David. Have been reading about the same observation about sitting in multiple places. Some good ideas for any of us who have to be around a desk most of the day: 1) Stand up during phone calls, webinars, conference calls, etc. 2) Move you laptop to eye level when possible ( i.e. top of a cabinet) and stand to do email. 3) Move for 10 minutes mid morning and mid afternoon. Walk around the building, walk around the block, do some “office yoga”- just move. Glad you shared this info.

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  5. Good information. Once again it’s about doing what we need to not what we want to. Little things make a big difference.

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  6. (1) We should stop watching TV and take up smoking instead?
    (2) You’re trying to talk yourself into going for your weekly run?
    (3) Can’t even fathom sitting in front of the TV for 6 hours. Who does that?

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    1. 1) I don’t think so. It was simply a shocking comparison to get everyone to rubber neck.
      2) You have so nailed it. I went longer run today after posting this.
      3) More than you think.

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