Most of us have never given sitting a second thought. In fact, we may not have clue about how much we sit all day. And why should we? It’s just such a natural thing to do. Well, it turns out that sitting and, especially, how much we sit is a real big deal.
In fact, outside of sleeping, sitting is probably the most time many of us spend doing all day. Indeed, we sit when we eat, when we watch tv, when we work at our computers, when we drive to and from work, when we are at work (at least some of us), to name just a few. And, all that sitting adds ups. In fact, sitting, as much as most of us do, is not good for our health.
In one study of 51,000 people, covering a period from 2001 to 2016, examined the effects of sitting. Meanwhile, these people were participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. The study divided the survey participants into four groups. Furthermore, two of these groups were adults between the ages of 20 to 64 and adults who were 65 or over. Above all, the study found that, from 2001 to 2016, total daily sitting time of both groups of adults increased from 5.5 hours to 6.5 hours a day.
TV or Video Time
Above all, researchers found that 65 percent of 20 to 64 years old adults spent two hours daily watching TV or videos, while 84 percent of adults over 65 spent two hours watching TV or videos. In addition, across both groups of adults, 28 to 38 percent spent three hours a day watching TV or videos. Finally, across both groups of adults, 13 to 23 percent spent four hours watching TV or videos.
Finally, across all four age groups, males were likely to spend more time watching TV or videos than women.
Computer Screen Time
Next, 50 percent of the two groups of adults used a computer daily, during leisure time, for more than one hour. In addition, 25 percent used computers daily, outside of work, for more than three hours.
The Issue with Excess Sitting
Most of all, study authors noted that sitting too much has been associated with increased risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and premature death.
Is Exercise the Answer?
First and foremost, exercise eliminates the high risk of prolonged sitting ONLY for the most active people. For example, the most active people are people who do 10 to 11 hours of brisk walking weekly. Other examples are people who spend over five hours a week jogging, running, swimming, bicycling or go to the gym for some serious sweaty workouts. In fact, the only way to eliminate the bad effects of prolonged sitting is by very vigorous activity. Regrettably, many people in the United States aren’t in a condition to do that.
Another Study
Meanwhile, a nine year study of 149,000 Australian adults over the age of 44 indicates that exercise helps. Especially relevant, all of them were free of heart disease at the start of the study. Also, the study excluded people with cancer.
First the study found that people who spend most of the day sitting and got little exercise are more likely to die of heart disease. In fact, 8,700 died during the nine years. And of these 1,600 died from heart disease or stroke.
Secondly, people who did moderate exercise (defined as 30 minutes a day on most of the days of week) were able to offset the health risk of sitting. However, the exception were people who sat for more than eight hours daily. While moderate amounts of exercise lowered their risk of death, exercise did not eliminate the risk. Most of all, people who sat for more than eight hours, need to do vigorous exercise to get the benefits.
Thirdly, the study found that enough walking, strenuous housework and gardening as well as a dedicated exercise regimen decreased risks from prolonged sitting.
Overall, the risk of death was higher among people who at the start of the study reported sitting for long periods each day. And the risk was highest among those who got little or no exercise.
Among the non-exercisers those who sat for 8 hours or more were 52 percent more likely to die versus those who spent less than four hours a day sitting.
Most of all, not all exercise helps. Only exercise that gets people out of breath is important. For example, these exercises include fast walking, stair climbing, walking uphill, carrying groceries, and many others.
Moreover, the study applies to people who are relatively healthy and want to ward off heart disease and other similar types of diseases.
