Too much sitting is bad for health
How much is too much sitting – currently there is not enough evidence to set a time limit on how much time people should sit each day. And if the advice should be the same for someone who is obese or leaner.
Some countries, such as Australia, the US and Finland, have made recommendations for how long children should sit – typically one to two hours a day.
For good health, we need to be active but we need to sitting a bit less as well.
Regardless of how much you exercise, research has suggested that sitting for too long is bad for your health.
Excessive sitting has been linked with being overweight and obese, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, and premature death.
Prolonged sitting is thought to slow the metabolism, which affects the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and break down body fat.
One research involving almost 800,000 people found that, compared with those who sat the least, people who sat the longest had a:
- 112% increase in risk of diabetes
- 147% increase in cardiovascular events
- 90% increase in death caused by cardiovascular events
- 49% increase in death from any cause
This research clearly suggests the risk of sitting too much is high and detrimental to health.
It is recommended to take active break from sitting every 30 minutes and have a short bout of activity for about 2 minutes.
The recommendation applies to everyone, even people who exercise regularly, because too much sitting is now recognised as an independent risk factor for ill health.
Professor Stuart Biddle, who led the national guidelines on reducing sitting, now at Victoria University, Australia, says people who take regular exercise may still be broadly sedentary. ‘If someone goes to the gym or walks for 30 to 45 minutes a day, but sits down the rest of the time, then they are still described as having a ‘sedentary lifestyle’. ‘All-day movement is now seen as being just as important for the maintenance of good health as traditional exercise.’
