Sitting For Long Durations Has Caused 433,000 Deaths

A new, amazing study shows that sitting for more than three hours per day actually leads to about 433,000 deaths!

By studying results from behavioral surveys conducted on adults in 54 countries between 2002 and 2011, experts examined the information against their statistics on population, life tables and overall death rates. They found that 3.8 percent of all deaths could be due to sitting too much, which seems to have affected populations in the Western Pacific region.

Sometimes, even minor changes in the duration of sitting can lead to a positive impact.

"It was observed that even modest reductions, such as a 10 percent reduction in the mean sitting time or a 30-minute absolute decrease of sitting time per day, could have an instant impact on all-cause mortality in the 54 evaluated countries, whereas bolder changes [for instance, 50 percent decrease or two hours fewer] would represent at least three times fewer deaths versus the 10 percent or 30-minute reduction scenarios," said lead investigator Leandro Rezende of the Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine.

The researchers suggest that people should change their sedentary habits even at workplaces, in order to lower death rates. Physical activity and reduced sitting need to be globally encouraged, so that premature mortality can be avoided.

"Although sitting time represents a smaller impact compared with other risk factors, reducing sitting time might be an important aspect of active lifestyle promotion, especially among people with lower physical activity levels," Rezende added. "In other words, reducing sitting time would help people increase their volumes of physical activity along the continuum to higher physical activity levels."

Rezende concluded: "The present findings support the importance of promoting active lifestyles (more physical activity and less sitting) as an important aspect of premature mortality prevention worldwide and, therefore, the need for global action to reduce this risk factor."

The study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.