Sitting Harmful to Health

Movement is the best antidote.

Prolonged sitting is hazardous for your health. A study of sedentary behavior found people who sat more than eight hours a day and didn’t exercise had a mortality risk similar to those who smoked.¹ Another study found people who consistently smoked one to ten cigarettes a day had an 87 percent increased risk of death from all causes compared to people who had never smoked.² In contrast, people who sat more than eight hours a day had an increased all-cause mortality risk of 22 percent compared to people who sat less than four hours a day.³

So, while sitting is not as harmful as smoking, doing a lot of it is still very bad for your health.

Downsides of sitting

When we sit, we burn fewer calories than when we stand or move. This can lead to weight gain and obesity. Sedentary behavior is associated with extra belly fat. Abdominal obesity is part of metabolic syndrome—a condition characterized by high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglyceride levels and low HDL (good) cholesterol. This syndrome, in turn, can lead to type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease. The chances of developing deep-vein thrombosis (blood clots), depression, insomnia, dementia and cancer go up with too much sitting. So do the risks of aging more quickly and dying prematurely.

Overall, after correcting for the amount of exercise people get, prolonged sitting is independently associated with many chronic diseases and adverse health outcomes. Research also indicates that too much sitting can negate some of the health benefits conferred from regular exercise.

In that case, what are we supposed to do when so many of our activities—working at desks, seated in front of screens, watching TV, traveling in cars or planes—involve sitting? The antidote is to get out of your chair and move your body frequently throughout the day.

Steps you can take

Here are some tips to counteract the negative effects of sitting:

• Move and stretch every 30 minutes or so.

• Walk around the building or take the stairs every 60 minutes when possible.

• Consider a standup desk. Standing burns twice the calories as sitting.

• Get a treadmill desk you can walk on while working.

• Take movement breaks during TV commercials or movies.

• Track your steps with a pedometer, Fitbit or mobile device app.

• Each week aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise. In addition, schedule two or three days a week of muscle-strengthening activities.⁴ Get your health care provider’s approval before starting; then gradually build up on the exercise amounts.

While sitting is not the new smoking, exercise is the closest thing we have to a fountain of youth and a reservoir of vitality.

This newsletter is for educational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for medical advice or treatment; before adhering to any recommendations in this newsletter consult your healthcare provider.

1. Edward Laskowski. What are the risks of sitting too much? Mayo Clinic, 7/13/22. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/sitting/faq-20058005

2. Maki Inoue-Choi, Linda Liao, et al. Association of Long-term, Low-Intensity Smoking with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. JAMA Internal Medicine, 1-17-2017. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5555224/

3. Jeff Vallance, Paul Gardiner, et al. Evaluating the Evidence on Sitting, Smoking, and Health: Is Sitting Really the New Smoking? American Journal of Public Health, 11-2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6187798/#bib47

4. Physical Activity: Adults. CDC, 6-2-22. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm