While sitting at a desk for hours or binging hours of TV on end has long been touted as “the new smoking” in terms of its effect on health, a new study is challenging that notion.
Researchers at the University of Exeter and University College London have analysed data from a 16-year longitudinal study of 5,000 volunteers, and have concluded that prolonged periods of sitting do not increase the risk of an early death – provided you take physical exercise.
In this paper, the research team asked civil servants in London record how much time they spent sitting at work, during their leisure time, and watching television across a 16-year period.
There were 3,720 men and 1,412 women surveyed, and factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, general healthy, smoking, alcohol consumption and diet were all taken into account. The amount of exercise taken was also analysed.
After crunching the numbers, the study found that the London-based civil servants, who mostly take public transportation to and from work, spent almost double the time walking each day than the rest of the UK’s population. And the conclusion arrived at was that this increased exercise may have had a beneficial effect on the civil servants’ health and wellbeing.
“Our findings suggest that reducing sitting time might not be quite as important for mortality risk as previously publicised and that encouraging people to be more active should still be a public health priority,” said lead author Richard Pulsford, a researcher in the sport and health sciences department at the University of Exeter.
The study concludes by saying more research is needed into the role of sitting in the development of diseases like diabetes, and also into whether it is the lack of motion or the physical posture of remaining seated that is harmful.
The research goes head to head with the advice given by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), which recommends that adults take a break from sitting and get up and move every 30 minutes. The health body says that people who remain seated the longest have an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular ailments, and premature death.
The NHS’ recommendation comes off the back of a significantly larger study of almost 800,000 participants, and this falls in line with most of the other research carried out into sitting.
