Sitting All Day is Killing You

“We are sitting ourselves to death.”  — Dr. James Levine

Sitting all day is killing us. What used to be a culture of constant movement, is now one of constant sitting. Moving from office chair, to driver’s seat, to couch is a guaranteed recipe for health issues. It’s even worse for those working remotely, as they move from office chair directly to couch, not even having the opportunity to walk to their car. Stop the death spiral by getting up and moving.

Sitting is ok, sitting all day is not. Humans were built to move. People who spend most of their work time sitting were found to be at least 16 percent more likely to die earlier than normal, for any reason, than were those who do not sit much while on the job¹. This sucks, because the majority of jobs have you sitting for most of the day². Add couch time to the end of the day and this is a recipe for disaster. Participants who sat 12 or more hours a day had a 38% higher risk of death than those who sat 8 hours a day³. That is a huge increase in death risk.

The remedy? Get off your butt. The latest research suggests you need 60–75 minutes per day of moderate-intensity activity to combat the dangers of excessive sitting⁴. With the average adult working 8-10 hours per day then watching shows 3-4 hours per day, we would argue this isn’t enough⁵. Make it a goal to be as active as you can. Go for a walk during your lunch break. Get a standing desk. Create and stick to a workout routine. Do anything but sit.

Action: Get off your butt. Make it a priority to move this week.

Further Reading:

1. Occupational Sitting Time, Leisure Physical Activity, and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality
2. Percentage of time spent sitting on a daily basis in the EU27 in 2022, by country and time intervals
3. Device-measured physical activity, sedentary time, and risk of all-cause mortality: an individual participant data analysis of four prospective cohort studies
4. The dangers of sitting: why sitting is the new smoking
5. Average daily time spent watching TV per capita in the United States from 2009 to 2023, by age group