Stand Up To Save Your Life

Reported November, 2010

ATLANTA, GA (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- We all know exercise is good for us. You hear it all the time. The surgeon general recommends that adults get 150 minutes of exercise each week to stay fit and healthy, but what happens if you don’t get off your butt?

Angela Waltower and Todd Hawkins work together. Todd spends much of his day at his desk and so does Angela.

"You may have breaks where you go to the copier or break room to get water or get a snack, but a lot of the job is sitting," Angela Waltower told Ivanhoe.

Now, epidemiologists who study pattern in health and illness say the time we spend sitting can actually shorten our lives.

“If you sit more than three hours a day, you are more likely to die earlier than if you sit less than three hours a day,” Alpha Patel, Ph.D, an Epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society explained.

Researchers followed more than 120-thousand men and women over 14 years. Women who sat six hours or more daily increased their risk of dying by 37 percent. For men, it was 17 percent. Women who sat more than six hours a day and didn’t get regular exercise doubled that risk. For men it was about a 50 percent increase.

“I generally move around but I don’t think you can count that as exercise,” Todd Hawkins said.

“Sitting time increases your cholesterol, increases blood pressure, and increases fasting glucose and various other markers of cardiovascular disease.” Dr. Patel said.

You can improve the odds!

“Just stand up!" Waltower said.

Go to a coworker's office instead of sending an email. Take the long way to the copy machine or walk at lunchtime. Workout while you work by sitting on an exercise ball like the researcher herself does.

“You’re actively having to engage your core so you’re burning more calories," Dr. Patel said.

The less time you spend sitting still, the better the chance your heart will keep on running. Researchers say sitting for long periods of time when you’re not working isn’t good for your health either, so increasing your activity is important no matter where you are. Further research may help epidemiologists determine whether some types of sitting are worse for your health than others. So far it’s not clear whether sitting in a car, for example, is as bad or better than sitting at your desk, or in front of your TV.

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Alpa V. Patel, PhD
Strategic Director, Cancer Prevention Study-3
American Cancer Society, Inc.
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 329 -7726

Lois Smith
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Santa Monica, CA 90406
(310) 394-1811
http://www.hfes.org
lois@hfes.org

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