The Time Spent Sitting is Independently Associated with Total Mortality

A study done in the American Journal of Epidemiology (2010) shows that reducing time spent sitting, regardless of activity, may improve the metabolic consequences of obesity. The US obesity epidemic is attributed to reduced overall physical activity expenditure. And reduced physical acitivity increases our risk for many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and various types of cancer including colon and postmenopausal breast cancer.
Numerous studies support an association with sitting time and obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and unhealthy dietary patterns in children and adults. Men and women who spent the least leisure time sitting were leaner, more likely to have never smoked cigarettes, more likely to be employed, and had lower total energy intake. In this large prospective cohort, women who reported sitting for more than 6 hours during their leisure time versus less than 3 hours a day had an approximately 40% higher all-cause death rate, and men had an approximately 20% higher death rate. Mortality rates were approximately 25% lower among men and women who reported the most versus the least daily physical activity.