New Study Shows Time Spent Sitting Could Shorten Life

(RTTNews) - A new report published in the current edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests that those who spend more time sitting down may die earlier.

After a 14-year study, researchers from the American Cancer Society have found that those who spend six or more hours of their leisure time sitting down are likely to die earlier than those who sit for three hours or less.

For the study, Dr. Alpa V. Patel followed 53,440 men and 69,776 women across America between the ages of 50-74. Patel and his team found that sitting for six or more hours a day causes an increased death rate of 40 percent for women and 20 percent for men.

For the least active adults, the chance of death increased to 94 percent in women and 48 percent in men.

"It is beneficial to encourage sedentary individuals to stand up and walk around as well as to reach optimal levels of physical activity," Patel tells WebMD.