Oh geesh, more evidence that something I’m doing right now puts my health in danger. Yep, there’s yet another study out showing that sitting for long periods of time is bad for you, even deadly. And unfortunately for those of us with desk jobs, it doesn’t matter if you’re sitting on the sofa watching TV or working diligently at your computer for hours at a time (or sitting on an airplane on a business trip, or in the car for hours as you commute . . .), any kind of long-haul sitting puts you at risk.
The latest study, in the British Medical Journal, to ID sitting as a major health offender finds that women who sit for long periods every day are two to three times more likely to suffer a pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolisms are rare but often deadly blood clots that travel to the lungs, usually after originating in the deep veins of the legs. Some symptoms are chest pain, difficulty breathing and coughing.
Now sitting for a long time only raises your risk of a pulmonary embolism a tiny bit, and the condition is rare to begin with, especially among healthy people. But this research is worth noting because it piles on to some other recent studies that find that it’s bad for you to have your butt in a chair for long periods. A study I reported on last year found that men who sit a lot have a higher risk of heart disease, even if they exercised, and another recent study found that people who sit more than six hours per day in their leisure time were significantly more likely to die, of all causes, than those who sat less then three hours per day, and the effect was even stronger for women than for men.
But while I can’t swap my desk job for one as a mail carrier or a landscaper or another that keeps me on my feet, I am trying to remember to add little bits of activity to my work days, such as walking around when I’m on the phone, fidgeting in my seat and generally getting up off that thing any time I can. The good news about all of this bad news about sitting is that even brief moments of physical activity counteract the chair’s negative effects.
Learn more about the risks of sitting:
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