Too much sitting can shorten your life, Australian study finds

Too much sitting can shorten your life, an Australian study has found.

The study, led by the University of Sydney, found that adults who sat 11 or more hours per day had a 40 percent increased risk of dying in the next three years compared with those who sat for fewer than four hours a day.

That was after they had accounted for how much moderate or vigorous exercise people got as well as their weight and other measures of health, according to AsianScientist.

The study of more than 200,000 people was published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

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"When we give people messages about how much physical activity they should be doing, we also need to talk to them about reducing the amount of hours they spend sitting each day," Reuters quoted study lead author Dr. Hidde van der Ploeg, a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health, as saying.

AsianScientist wrote that the results were part of the largest ongoing study of healthy aging in the Southern Hemisphere, the  "45 and Up Study" being conducted by the Sax Institute.

According to figures cited by AsianScientist, the average adult spends 90 percent of their leisure time sitting down, while less than half of adults meet World Health Organization physical activity recommendations.

“That morning walk or trip to the gym is still necessary, but it’s also important to avoid prolonged sitting," AsianScientist quoted van der Ploeg as saying. "Our results suggest the time people spend sitting at home, at work and in traffic should be reduced by standing or walking more."

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