Sit less, live longer, researchers say

Co-author Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre said that the team's proposal to reduce sitting "would be a challenge," -- given the amount of time most people spend behind their desks at work.

However, he added, people can use various strategies to reduce sitting time, "standing more at work [...] having walking meetings, going to see someone down the hall rather than emailing them etc," according to iAfrica.com.

The research was based on a comparison of population health and lifestyle statistics with polling data on inactivity. When sitting, Katzmarzyk said, our leg muscles - the largest in the body - are completely inactive. This, he said, "causes problems with how you handle your blood sugar and how you handle cholesterol." iAfrica.com reports.

Read the full article on lifestyle.iafrica.com