Sitting is linked to increased risk of disease of the heart and circulatory system and it doesn’t matter if you exercise it’s the sitting that is the problem.
“Blood pressure was statistically significantly elevated after two- and four-hour bouts of sitting in healthy older adults” according to scientists at Birmingham University’s school of sport, exercise and rehabilitation.
Sitting for less than two hours is significantly safer so getting up and walking around can reduce the risk.
Although the research focused on the over-70s it’s the same across all age ranges.
The American Cancer Society reported last year that people sitting for more than 6 hours a day had a 19% higher death rate than those who spent less than 3 hours seated.
Research at Liverpool John Moores University showed that prolonged sitting slows blood flow to the brain and may raise the risk of dementia.
So overall it’s clear that sitting damages health. “There is growing evidence supporting the longer-term health effects of prolonged sedentary behaviour across the life course” said the researcher at Birmingham who presented these results at the British Science Association’s annual meeting last week.
“It is important to make people aware that they need to try and reduce sitting time as well as going to the gym” she added.
So get up off your bums for you health’s sake!