So just how much exercise is enough to make up for the hours spent sitting at a desk on the job or on the couch watching movies? A recent study recommends a ratio of 30 minutes of physical activity per 4 hours of sitting, one hour of per eight hours, etc. Researchers analyzed data from more than one million people, age 45 and up. Those who followed the exercise recommendations reduced, or even eliminated, mortality risk from heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer. In addition, the participants who sat for eight hours a day but were physically active had a lower mortality risk than those who sat fewer hours but did not exercise at all. Study authors say that the exercise could be spread out over the day and can vary in type and intensity…the important thing is to get moving to offset the negative effects of sitting.

 

Source: Ekelund U, Johannessen J, Brown W, et al. Does physical activity attenuate, or even eliminate, the detrimental association of sitting time with mortality? A harmonised meta-analysis of data from more than 1 million men and women. Lancet, 2016 Sept; 388 (10051): 1302-1310.