No ‘Buts’ About it, Sitting on Your Behind May Slowly Kill You

A number of studies have been published in recent years looking at the connection between sitting too much and poor health outcomes. But a new study published today found that adults who sit for one to two hours at a time without moving may have a higher mortality rate than adults who sit for the same total amount of time, but in shorter segments.

Study participants who sat more than 13 hours a day usually in bouts of 60 to 90 minutes at a time were twice as likely to die earlier than those who sat for the same amount of time, but got up and moved more frequently.

Almost 8,000 adults over the age of 45 participated in the study. The authors used hip-mounted activity trackers over a period of seven days to objectively track inactivity with a median follow-up period of four years.

Those who sat for an average of 30 minutes or less at a time had the lowest mortality risk.

The study was published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.