Exercise Won’t Compensate For Sitting Too Much: Inactivity Raises Risk Of Diabetes, Heart Problems & Death

Exercising won't compensate for the amount of times you spend sitting. A newly released science advisory warned that long periods of sitting raises people's risk of developing diabetes, heart problems, and death.

The American Heart Association found that Americans are sitting for six to eight hours a day, whether it's watching television or doing work in their desk jobs. The study cited one report that said people in the United States sit for an average of 38 hours per week in 2009, as opposed to the 26 hours American spent sitting per week in 1965. In the United Kingdom, the number rose from 30 hours per week to 42 hours per week in the same time frame.

According to the AHA's study, sitting for two hours while watching TV raises a person's diabetes risk by 14 percent or more. For every additional hour a person watches TV, the risk of heart problems increases by at least six to eight percent. People who are inactive for long periods of time tend to have low life spans.

Some people would want to compensate for sitting too much by exercising in the weekend. It turns out this approach doesn't have enough benefits to counteract the negative effects of sitting. Basically, people who engage in high levels of physical activity in their free time have high risks of diabetes, heart problems, and death if they still sit for long periods.

Prolonged sitting encourages high blood pressure and increased cholesterol, factors that contribute to heart disorders. Other health hazards of sitting too much are muscle degeneration, overworked pancreas, cancers (breast, colon, and endometrial), soft leg bones, poor blood circulation in legs, bad back, strained neck, and slower brain function, The Washington Post listed.

For most of us, however, prolonged sitting is unavoidable especially to those people tied to their desk jobs such as computer programmers and writers. The study's authors advised people to slash their sedentary periods intentionally by walking or stretching every 30 minutes or so.

In a statement published on American Heart Association, study author Deborah Rohm Young advised people with desk jobs to walk around the office several times "instead of powering through your work from the minute you get into" your workspace. Alan Hedge, a professor of ergonomics at Cornell University in New York, recommended standing for eight minutes, moving around, and stretching for two minutes after sitting for 20 minutes, the Wall Street Journal reported. For those who practice prolonged sitting while watching TV, experts advised to walk around the house during commercials.