Get Up! How a Sedentary Life Can Bring on an Early Death

Is it really possible that sitting for too long without breaks can literally kill someone? It may sound dramatic, but it seems to be true according to this study in Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers found that even if someone exercises, that not moving around every 30 minutes could cause some significant health issues.

This is partly why doctors are urging their patients to get up and move around, as staying sedentary could have terrible cost that one may not suspect.

Sitting is deadly

A study published in Annals of Internal Medicine showed that sitting for prolonged periods of time increases the risk for an early death, regardless of how fit you are. They found that the relationship between how much time you sit during the day and the risk you are at for earlier mortality are directly related. When you sit for longer, you are edging closer and closer to dying at a younger age. 

How did they find this out? They conducted a study on almost 8,000 adults where the people within the study who sat for less than 30 minutes at a time presented the smallest risk of an early death, according to the researchers.

Advice from the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association has a pretty simple solution to decrease your risk. They call is "sit less, move more" and that is pretty much all you have to do. Of course, true health is more than that, but maintaining this simple goal is a sizable step in the right direction.

Keith Diaz is the lead author of the study that found these results and is also an associate research scientist in the Columbia University Department of Medicine. He explained his belief that the American Heart Association's advice doesn't quite cut it, saying, "This would be like telling someone to just 'exercise' without telling them how."

Diaz went on to explain that when teaching patients how to exercise, you are then offering precise details, which makes the suggestions significantly easier to follow. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that adults who perform aerobic exercises of medium intensity for two and a half hours per week with weight lifting or other exercises that can strengthen muscles at least twice per week. Diaz wants to see these types of specific guidelines followed when it comes to sitting as well.

He explains further, "We think a more specific guideline could read something like, 'For every 30 consecutive minutes of sitting, stand up and move/walk for five minutes at a brisk pace to reduce the health risks from sitting.'"

Despite the fact that he does not think the present guidelines are enough, he does believe that the study is a step in the right direction and would likely inspire more direct instructions; however, he concedes that more research is definitely necessary in order to conclusively verify the findings.