Sitting for too long can increase your chances of dying by up to 38 per cent. But new research suggests there may be a way for those aged 50-plus to ‘cheat’ the system – and it takes less than half an hour each day.
Risks of a sedentary lifestyle
Some may think a sedentary lifestyle is actually a positive. You’re not putting weight on your knees and ankles; you’re not putting other muscles under stress; you’re not raising your heart rate to dangerous levels.
But … your body needs to do at least some work to stay in optimal health. And the longer you go without moving, the greater the risk of an adverse health outcome.
At the very least, your body needs to expend energy taken in via the food you’ve eaten. But of course it’s far more complicated than that. Prolonged sitting time is linked to a number of health issues including obesity, heart disease and certain types of cancers. All can contribute to earlier death.
It’s when our sedentary hours extend beyond eight hours a day that these risks start to kick in. And that’s a problem, because people in developed countries spend an average of nine to 10 hours a day sitting.
The 12-hour threshold
According to a new study, being sedentary for more than 12 hours a day brings the highest risk. That study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, involved about 12,000 people aged 50 or older.
Participants were followed up for at least two years (the median was 5.2 years) during the study period, which spanned 2003 to 2020. The study took lifestyle into account, such as education, alcohol intake and smoking status. It also took in previous history of heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Over the duration of the study, 805 participants died, and it was their data that provided important insights.
Those who were sedentary for 12 or more hours a day had a 38 per cent higher mortality rate. However, this was only the case for those who failed to do more than 22 minutes of exercise each day.
But for the 12-hour-plus sedentary group who did more than 22 minutes of exercise, the risk was drastically reduced. That 22 minutes brought the group into a similar risk category to those who were sedentary for eight hours.
All this is not to suggest that being sedentary for more than 12 hours a day, offset by 22 minutes of exercise, is a great idea. Ideally, a good mix of exercise, sleep and some sedentary hours will give most people a healthier life.
It is good to know, however, that even less than half an hour’s exercise will help increase your chances of living longer.
Do you accumulate more than 12 sedentary hours in each day? Do you get enough exercise to offset the risks that entails? Let us know via the comments section below.
Also read: Five ways to rekindle your love of exercise
