New research suggests that sitting for more than six hours a day may be harmful to cardio health. An international study surveying 105,677 participants from 21 countries found that people who sat for six to eight hours a day had a 12 to 13% increased risk of early death and heart disease, while those who sat for more than eight hours a day increased that to 20%.
The findings in JAMA Cardiology looked at high-, middle- and low-income countries, and found the association between sitting time and mortality and cardiovascular disease was more pronounced in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.
The authors found sitting and inactivity accounted for 8.8% of all deaths. For those sitting more than four hours a day, simply replacing a half hour with exercise reduced the risk by 2%.
Image credit | Shutterstock
