Sitting Around for Long Periods of Time May Increase Your Risk of Death

American Cancer Society researchers are reporting that the amount of time spent sitting can actually affect your mortality rate, irrespective of whether or not you are physically active. This finding is quite surprising in light of the fact that despite being physically active, you can still have a higher risk of death from simply sitting around longer.

Alpa Patel, the lead scientist conducting the study, conducted surveys on over 123,000 individuals divided approximately half and half between men and women. These individuals had no prior history of heart attack, cancer, stroke, emphysema, or other lung disease. Patel and his group then tracked these individuals from 1993 to 2006.

Patel's group found that the more sitting/leisure time that an individual reported, the higher the risk of that person's mortality. This mortality risk was especially noted in women; those women who reported 6 or more hours of sitting time per day were 37% more likely to die than women who reported 3 hours or fewer of sitting time per day. Even more surprisingly, the women who sat for six or more hours a day and exercised regularly still did not lower their risk of death.

What was even more disturbing was the death rate for men and women who sat around for six or more hours per day and also did not exercise. Men were 48% more likely to die, and women were actually 94% more likely to die, if they sat around for over six hours a day and did not exercise.

The majority of deaths experienced by both men and women who sat over six hours per day resulted from cardiovascular causes rather than from cancer or some other physiological causes. Patel and his colleagues theorized that metabolic changes in factors such as triglycerides, resting blood pressure, leptin, fasting blood sugar, and cholesterol may explain the high mortality rates associated with sitting for long periods of time.

Dr. Patel's findings correlate with the results of another recent study, this one analyzing the health effects of watching TV. Dr. Dunstan and his colleagues in Victoria, Australia, tracked the lifestyle habits of nearly 9,000 individuals. What these researchers noted was that, for every hour spent watching TV, there was an 11% increased risk of dying from all manner of health issues, and an 18% increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. Individuals who watched over 4 hours of TV per day had a 46% increased risk of dying from all types of health causes and a whopping 80% increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. These findings held true regardless of whether the surveyed individuals were obese or of normal weight, had normal or high blood pressure, maintained a healthy or unhealthy diet, and whether or not they exercised when not sitting in the front of the TV.

Based on these findings, the researchers involved in these studies are urging the general public to spend less time sitting and more time moving. They are also hoping to raise awareness that many white-collar careers, such as accounting, technical support, or bookkeeping, may actually be increasing the risk of death for workers.

References:

1. Alpa V. Patel, Leslie Bernstein, Anusila Deka, Heather Spencer Feigelson, Peter T. Campbell, 5 Susan M. Gapstur, Graham A. Colditz, and Michael J. Thun. Leisure Time Spent Sitting in Relation to Total Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of US Adults. American Journal of Epidemiology, 2010; DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwq155

2. Sedentary TV Time May Cut Life Short http://esciencenews.com/sources/science.daily/2010/01/11/sedentary.tv.time.may.cut.life.short