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Sit less, live longer, researchers say

11 Jul 2012

According to iAfrica.com, researchers claim that adults may boost their life expectancy by two years by sitting for fewer than three hours a day, but admit that this was a tough task.

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