Most adults in the UK spend over nine hours a day sitting, according to the NHS, but new research from Brunel University reveals that prolonged sitting could seriously harm your health—even if you consistently meet weekly exercise recommendations.
“We reviewed the published evidence regarding associations between sedentary behaviour [sitting or lying down] and risk markers for cardiovascular disease and diabetes in people aged 60 and above,” explains Dr. Daniel Bailey, a sedentary behaviour specialist, during a video call from his standing desk.
The review found that individuals who spent large portions of their day sitting had higher waist circumferences and body fat levels. They also exhibited less favorable readings for biomarkers linked to heart disease and diabetes, including blood pressure, glucose levels, triglycerides, and cholesterol. “Those risks were there regardless of the amount of physical activity these older adults were engaging in,” Dr. Bailey added.
Many people easily surpass eight hours at a desk each day. When factoring in commutes and leisure time spent watching television, daily sitting times quickly add up. “Over the past few decades, we’ve seen all of this technology come into play, which gives us more opportunities to sit down,” Dr. Bailey says. “With that, we have seen a massive increase in obesity and the diseases that come with it.”
While older populations are the most sedentary group and likely to benefit most from reducing sitting time, Dr. Bailey emphasizes, “It is an important consideration for all ages,” citing studies linking excessive sitting to increased health risks in children and working-age adults.
If you move less, you burn fewer calories, potentially leading to weight gain. Muscles can weaken with disuse, joints can become stiff, and cardiovascular fitness can decline.
Research indicates that the detrimental effects of prolonged sitting are linked to the duration of uninterrupted sitting time. “There have been a number of studies that show the benefits of breaking up your sedentary time every 30 to 60 minutes,” Dr. Bailey explains. He describes this as a series of “metabolic switches that help regulate blood sugar, glucose levels and cholesterol levels.”
“If you’re not doing regular muscular contractions, these metabolic switches switch off. That’s when we get higher levels of glucose in the blood, higher cholesterol in the blood, and our blood pressure isn’t as well regulated.”
How to Fight Back
The primary strategies to counteract the negative effects of sitting involve reducing the amount of time spent sitting and ensuring regular muscular contractions—essentially, using your muscles and moving. Based on his research, Dr. Bailey recommends incorporating movement every 30 to 60 minutes.
“Every movement counts,” he says. “We’ve published a lot of studies in our group that show how regular, short bouts of light activity keep these metabolic switches turned on, and your blood sugar levels and cholesterol stay lower throughout the day.”
“It doesn’t need to be structured exercise. Simply standing up seems to be beneficial in people that are overweight, obese or have type two diabetes. We’ve also looked at slow walking – people can get these metabolic benefits from things we do in our everyday lives.”
“Every half an hour, get up, move around for a few minutes, and that should help reduce your risk of the different diseases we’ve discussed.”
Another simple adjustment Dr. Bailey suggests is reorganizing your workstation to encourage more movement.
“Changing your setup so not everything is at hand can help,” he explains. “If you need a pen, to print something or put something in the bin, having those things located away from your desk might encourage you to move more often. And rather than sending a colleague an email, go and talk to them at their desk.”
You could also consciously move after completing tasks on your computer, he adds.
“Sometimes you might ignore an alert to move from your wearable or an app because you are working on something. Instead, wait until the end of a task, then use that as your cue to get up and move around. If you’re working from home, you could spread your housework across the day rather than doing it in one big chunk, and use these opportunities to do it.”
Reap the Benefits
The good news is that even small changes in reducing daily sitting time can yield remarkable results. “If we can limit our sedentary time and be physically active, we’re going to live a longer and healthier life, which is what I think we’re all striving for,” says Dr. Bailey.
“Benefits you might see and feel quite quickly are [a] better mood, more energy and less fatigue. Then, in the longer term, you might start to see reductions in body fat or body weight because you are burning more calories from movement.
“The deeper impacts won’t be as obvious, but you could benefit from a reduction in blood sugar levels and a reduction in blood pressure. That will help reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers as well.”
