Sitting too much is like… Smoking?!

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We all know that physical activity is good for you, and sedentary lifestyles are not. That’s why you come into Healthy Fit for Women several times a week – you value your health.

What about all those times you’re not at the gym though? You know, when you’re at your desk at work. When you at home relaxing in front of the TV, when you’re suck in traffic. We have some bad news for you – according to a recent article in Runner’s World — A growing body of research shows that people who spend many hours of the day glued to a seat die at an earlier age than those who sit less—even if those sitters exercise.

Travis Saunders, a Ph.D. student and certified exercise physiologist at the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario went on to explain  that  “sitting increases your risk of death and disease, even if you are getting plenty of physical activity. It’s a bit like smoking. Smoking is bad for you even if you get lots of exercise. So is sitting too much.”

Some other research findings mentioned in the article:

  • People spent an average of 64 hours a week sitting, 28 hours standing, and 11 hours milling about (nonexercise walking), whether or not they exercised the recommended 150 minutes a week.
  • People are about 30 percent less active overall on days when they exercise versus days they don’t hit the road or the gym
  • A study of 3,757 women found that for every two hours they sat in a given work day, their risk for developing diabetes went up seven percent, which means their risk is 56 percent higher on days they sit for eight hours.
  • In a 12-year study of more than 17,000 Canadians, researchers found that the more time people spent sitting, the earlier they died—regardless of age, body weight, or how much they exercised.

Done reading? Good. Now go take a walk!

Tips-for-Sitting-Less


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