“Sit Less, Move More” May Not Be the Answer to Preventing an Early Death
Regardless of how active of a lifestyle you lead, if you’re sitting for extended periods of time, you’re more likely to die early than individuals who make a point of standing and moving throughout the day. A new study by the Annals of Internal Medicine found that there is a direct relationship between early death and the amount of time that a person spends sitting. The study showed that those who spent less than 30 minutes at a time sitting had a lesser chance of early death.
The popular slogan “Sit less, move more” by the American Heart Association encourages us to up our daily activity, and reduce the amount of time that we spend sitting, however this is only a starting point in preventing an early death. Suggesting that people simply move more, doesn’t teach them how to keep their bodies moving in order to be at their healthiest.
The best way to reduce this risk is to take a 30 minute moving and standing break, for every 30 minutes that you spend sitting. Lead author of the new study and an associate research scientist in the Columbia University Department of Medicine, Keith Diaz, suggests ”For every 30 consecutive minutes of sitting, stand up and move/walk for five minutes at brisk pace to reduce the health risks from sitting.”
In the study Diaz found that on average, sedentary time made up for 12.3 hours during a 16 hour day, and participants in the study sat for an average of 11.4 minutes at a time. By monitoring the sedentary minutes of the individuals, Diaz and his team were able to determine that the longer a person sat, the greater their chances were for early death, for any reason. Diaz explained, “To give you a specific number, those who sat for more than 13 hours per day had a 2-fold (or 200%) greater risk of death compared to those who sat for less than about 11 hours per day”. Shockingly, people who sat for more than 90 minutes at a time had twice the risk of death.
Why exactly is sitting so dangerous for our health? Dr. David A. Alter, an associate professor at the University of Toronto in Ontario believes that excessive periods of sitting may increase chances of insulin sensitivity, while other medical professionals believe that sitting for too long reduces calorie expenditures. It is also important to note that more sitting correlates to a compromised cardiovascular system.
Chances are you read this article sitting down. No matter how you look at it, the more we sit, the more we put ourselves at risk for early death. Fortunately, it’s never too late to get up and get moving! If you work at a job where you’re required to spend a number of hours a day sitting, make a point to stand up and take a walk every 30 minutes. Pay attention to your daily habits, and check in with yourself regularly to make sure that you’re making positive lifestyle choices.
