Someone once told me that ‘sitting is the new smoking’ and I found that saying to be defeatingly profound. Obviously, smoking cigarettes is worse than the act of simply sitting down. With that being said, living a sedentary lifestyle can be very detrimental to a person’s health if it is not combined with a proper diet and sufficient exercise.
Working a ‘sitting down job’ comes with its benefits and drawbacks. It can be a very sneaky thing from a health standpoint. In addition to burning very few calories, sitting in a chair in a cubicle all day or working remotely from home is often accompanied by a lot of snacking based on my anecdotal experience, and the snacking is rarely healthy. As days turn into months, and months into years, the extra weight can really add up if someone isn’t careful (I am speaking from firsthand experience!).
So how much exercise does a person need to get to offset sitting most of the day? That question was at the heart of a study conducted in 2020 by a small army of researchers affiliated with various health and academic institutions in the United States, Europe, and Australia.
“We conducted a harmonised meta-analysis including nine prospective cohort studies from four countries. 44,370 men and women were followed for 4.0 to 14.5 years,” the researchers stated in their study. “Associations between different combinations of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time were analysed at study level using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis and summarised using random effects meta-analysis.”
“Across cohorts, the average time spent sedentary ranged from 8.5 hours/day to 10.5 hours/day and 8 min/day to 35 min/day for MVPA. Compared with the referent group (highest physical activity/lowest sedentary time), the risk of death increased with lower levels of MVPA and greater amounts of sedentary time.” the researchers observed.
“About 30–40 min of MVPA per day attenuate the association between sedentary time and risk of death, which is lower than previous estimates from self-reported data.” the researchers concluded (important text bolded by me for emphasis).
Keep in mind, the 30-40 minutes per day recommendation is basically what is needed to lower the risk of death from sitting 8.5-10.5 hours a day. Even more physical activity is needed to gain muscle and have a ‘lean figure.’ Additionally, being healthy requires more than just physical activity – you need to adhere to a healthy diet as well.
I encourage people who work a sitting-down job to check out the cardio, weightlifting, and nutrition categories on this website. The categories are populated with articles on an ongoing basis.
***
Disclaimer: The contents of this article and this website are not meant to substitute for the professional advice of a doctor, nutritionist, and/or certified personal trainer. This content is provided as an educational tool to help people on their fitness journeys. While we strive to research topics as much as possible and provide useful and accurate information to the best of our abilities, we also strongly recommend talking to your doctor, nutritionist, and/or certified personal trainer before starting any workout, therapeutic, or nutritional regimen, as each individual’s needs and situations vary depending on the person.