{"id":489962,"date":"2024-01-19T11:00:19","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T16:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/all-that-sitting-at-work-is-shortening-your-life-drugs-com-mednews\/"},"modified":"2024-01-19T12:38:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T17:38:59","slug":"all-that-sitting-at-work-is-shortening-your-life-drugs-com-mednews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/all-that-sitting-at-work-is-shortening-your-life-drugs-com-mednews\/","title":{"rendered":"All That Sitting at Work Is Shortening Your Life – Drugs.com MedNews","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

Medically reviewed<\/a> by Drugs.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter<\/p>\n

FRIDAY, Jan. 19, 2024 — Your office chair could be a killer.<\/p>\n

New research shows that folks who spent most of their workday sitting were 16% more prone to an early death, compared to folks in non-sitting jobs. <\/p>\n

The Taiwanese study did offer workers a glimmer of hope, however: Getting up & moving a bit during the workday or adding a bit of leisure-time exercise greatly reduced the risk.<\/p>\n

The researchers hope that, someday, days spent sitting for work might be looked upon as just another unwanted, unhealthy habit. <\/p>\n

“Prolonged occupational sitting is [now] considered normal,” the investigators said. But more information on just how fatal a life spent sitting can be may “denormalize this common behavior, similar to the processes of denormalizing smoking.”<\/p>\n

The study was led by Dr. Chi-Pang Wen<\/a> of the National Health Research Institute in Zhunan, Taiwan. It was published Jan. 19 in the journal JAMA Network Open<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Numerous studies have already found that as hours per day spent sitting rise, health declines. And sitting’s dangers may not be simply that sitting equals time not spent in activity. <\/p>\n

There could be something specific to the posture of sitting that is especially harmful, the research team said.<\/p>\n

Sitting may bring about a weakening of the legs and trunk and “increased blood flow to lower extremities,” as well as low-grade inflammation, Wen’s group explained. <\/p>\n

In turn, that could “lead to reduced insulin action, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome and reduced kidney function” over time, they said. <\/p>\n

In the study, Wen’s group analyzed detailed data on the everyday lives of almost 482,000 Taiwanese people averaging about 39 years of age. <\/p>\n

Data on their leisure-time physical activity, as well as how many hours they spent sitting at work, was collected. Participants’ health was also tracked for an average of about 13 years. <\/p>\n

Compared to people who didn’t sit at work, folks who said they sat through most of their workdays had a greater chance of dying over the course of the study. <\/p>\n

That risk rose with age, and was somewhat more pronounced in women (21%) than men (13%), the study found. <\/p>\n

When looking at deaths from heart disease, Wen’s group found that people who mostly sat through their workdays had a 34% higher risk than non-sitters. Risks were roughly similar for men and women. <\/p>\n

However, small changes at work or home did seem to mitigate all these health risks.<\/p>\n

The study found that people whose workdays consisted of a combination of sitting and moving around “did not experience increased risk of all-cause mortality.” <\/p>\n

To Wen and his colleagues, that suggests that workplace interventions — regular activity breaks or the use of standing worktables rather than chairs — might undercut the dangers of prolonged sitting. <\/p>\n

Exercise outside of working hours — an increase of just 15 to 30 minutes per day — also brought about a reduction in risk for early death back to the level of a person who didn’t sit at work, the Taiwanese team said.<\/p>\n

The bottom line, according to the authors, is that “systemic [workplace] changes, such as more frequent breaks, standing desks, designated workplace areas for physical activity and gym membership benefits” could help otherwise chair-bound workers stay healthy.<\/p>\n

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Sources<\/h2>\n