There has been a spate of articles lately, all on various health-related topics, but all with the same theme; prolonged sitting is bad for you. I’ll outline the take home points of a few of them in the hope that I can convince you to get up from your seat every now and then, or, if you work at Mac Bank, that your boss will let you up from your seat every now and then…

I have spoken about this in a general postural sense before when I mentioned that as little as 20 minutes of sitting can lead to slumped posture and the negative effects this can have for low back and neck pain, but these new articles are looking at the impact prolonged sitting can have on your general health.

“Sitting Is a Silent Killer, Swedish Medics Warn Couch Potatoes” was the headline in Bloomberg BusinessWeek on January 19, 2010. The article warned desk jockeys (but not disc jockeys, which is a bit sad, I think their health should be protected too) that “the more time people spend in a completely sedentary state, independent of the exercise they get at other times, the higher their risk of becoming obese, and developing diabetes, heart disease and cancer” and recommended people “climb stairs rather than take the elevator, walk to the store, and take regular 5 minute breaks during a working day spent behind a desk”.

The important line in that, to me, is that this is “independent of the exercise you get at other times”. So this advice is for everyone, even if you go to the gym at lunchtime or go for a run or swim or Yoga class before or after work. If you sit all day you are still prone to these problems.

The warning was that an “” in The Australian on January 12, 2010. According to Australian researchers (Go Australia!) who followed 8,800 people for 6 years:

• someone who watched 4 hours of TV each day had an 80% higher risk of death from heart disease compared to someone who watched less than 2 hours, and was 46% more likely to die from all causes
• An additional hour in front of the box each day increases the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 18%
• Each extra hour increases by 11 per cent the overall likelihood of dying from all causes, including cancer

General medical guidelines say that you should get 150minutes (5x30minutes) of exercise each week, but recent research would suggest that this should only be your bare minimum/starting point, and that the more exercise you can do, the more benefits you will get (provided you build up gradually of course). I have talked about this previously in articles on the benefits of regular exercise for reducing your risk of cancer, and the benefits of higher intensity exercise on reducing blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, and body fat levels.

I’m sure you get the point.