Doctors at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Canada have found that a sedentry lifestyle is extremely deleterious to health.
According to them, average office goers spend approximately 7 – 8 hours sitting down. These people are prone to a increase in risks of obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, heart diseases, and other allied diseases.
Studies have also suggested that exercising regularly does not necessarily counter the effect of prolonged sitting.
They conducted a study on 278 subjects who had coronary heart disease, and had completed a cardiac rehabilitation program, in which they got training in enhancing their physical activity.
These individuals were made to wear monitors for 9 days, which recorded their activity levels. Surprisingly, all 278 spent an average of 8 hours sitting during the day, despite exercising.
According to the results, prolonged sitting results in lower cardio-respiratory fitness, and higher Body Mass Index (BMI), regardless of age, gender, or amount of time spent excersing.
