Get Up! How a Sedentary Life Can Bring on an Early Death
Why does sitting increase the risk for death?
While the evidence can be considered conclusive, the question remains of why there is such a dramatic increase in risk associated with sitting. Some scientists believe that sitting frequently and for long periods of time can decrease insulin activity while other researchers believe that sitting decreases net calorie expenditures.
Dr. David A. Alter is an associate professor at the University of Toronto in Ontario, and he recently explained his views on why the study is inconclusive, as it does not fully explain the correlation between lengths of sitting and mortality, "Persons with uninterrupted sedentary bouts of 30 minutes or more had the highest risk for death if total sedentary time also exceeded 12.5 hours per day. Conversely, in those whose daily sedentary volumes were low, uninterrupted bout lengths had little if any associated effects on mortality."
