Sitting In a Chair Could Be Killing You

Standing more could lower risk for obesity, illness and death, studies suggest

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Chairs: we sit in them, work in them, shop in them, eat in them and date in them. Americans sit for most of their waking hours, 13 hours every day on average. Yet chairs are lethal.

This grim conclusion may surprise you, but 18 studies reported during the past 16 years, covering 800,000 people overall, back it up. In 2010, for example, the journal published an investigation following 8,800 adults for seven years. Those who sat for more than four hours a day while watching television had a 46 percent increase in deaths from any cause when compared with people who sat in front of the tube for less than two hours. Other researchers have found that sitting for more than half the day, approximately, doubles the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular problems. In one study, when researchers combined all causes of death and compared any group of sitters with those who were more active, sitters had a 50 percent greater likelihood of dying during about 8.5 years of follow-up.

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