Just in case you didn't get the memo, new studies suggest that you shouldn't remain inactive. Otherwise, you increase your death risk a lot faster than when you're obese. But there's far worse than that: sitting for long periods of time.
A study conducted by the researchers of Toronto Rehabilitation Institute revealed that prolonged sitting can lead to an increased risk of early death even if people exercise regularly.
According to one of the lead authors Dr. David Alter, one can never compensate 30 minutes to an hour of exercise with spending the rest of the day sitting. It doesn't provide any kind of assurance that it's perfectly okay.
This conclusion is based on the team's analyses performed on previous studies. They discovered that those who spent at least 8 hours a day of sitting seemed to experience the biggest impact of health hazards. Of course, as expected, those who sit and don't exercise experienced the worse.
But just how deadly is it going to be? Upon analyses, they figured that by prolonged sitting, you boost your risk of cancer by as much as 13% and cardiovascular disorders by 14%. This lack of inactivity has the biggest consequence on blood sugar as it can increase diabetes risk to more than 90% since prolonged sitting can worsen or even lead to insulin resistance. If you sit for long periods and do not exercise, your risk to premature death is 40%. If you do, the risk is about 10%.
The best way to lower this risk is to spend more time doing something. It is advised that you limit your sitting time to around 2 to 3 hours a day. If standing for longer periods seems too much, you can begin by standing or walking every half hour, taking at least a minute break. You can also use standing desks, which allows you to work comfortably even when standing up, a move that is now adapted by many companies.
