Sitting And Mortality

A few days ago the Archives of Internal Medicine published the timely results of the effects of sitting on mortality rates. van der Ploeg and her colleagues followed over 220,000 Australians over a 3 year period. The subjects were 45 years or older and sadly 5405 people passed away during the course of the study. The researchers found that mortality risks increased with daily sitting time. Compared to people who sat less than 4 hours a day, those that sat for 4-8 hrs had a 2% increased risk of mortality. Whereas those that sat for 8-11 hrs a day increased their risk by 15% and the subjects that sat for over 11 hrs increased their risk of death by a whopping 40%!

Fascinatingly, their results revealed that prolonged sitting was a risk factor for mortality independent of physical activity. Probably because “time spent doing moderate or vigorous exercise and time being totally sedentary may affect long-term disease risks separately.”

Don’t be too depressed about it…we all have to go at some stage…but if you prefer to leave later rather than sooner, have a look at my previous post ‘I Wouldn’t Sit For That (Part 2)‘ for some helpful tips!