Do you sit for at least six hours a day? According to researcher Alpa Patel, you have a greater chance of a short life. People who sit less than three hours a day live longer.
For those who think this is a hasty conclusion:nothing could be further from the truth. Alpa Patel and his team of researchers did no fewer than fourteen years of study to this topic. Reason enough for the American Journal of Epidemiology to publish the results.
The investigation
How the research team proceeded? They studied data from 53,440 American men and 69,776 women, who were between the ages of 50 and 74 at the start of the study.
During the survey, they were asked, among other things, how much they exercised on an average day in the past year and how much time they spent sitting † Also taken into account is whether the volunteers smoked, how heavy they weighed and how tall they were. So no half work.
The results
After following the subjects for fourteen years, the team was finally able to process the results. And guess what:people who spend at least six hours a day sitting (even if they still exercise in the evening, for example) die earlier than people who sit less than three hours a day. This means that during the day it becomes considerably more active for the average employee.
People who sit a lot and also move little are at an even higher risk of dying earlier. Sitting appears to increase the risk of cancer and the risk of heart disease also rises sharply. It should be clear that if you also smoke and are overweight, you run an even higher risk of dying earlier.
To add even more:according to the researchers, the effect is greater for women than for men .
