'Sitting-Reduction' Strategy - Studies Find Sit Less, Stand More = Live Better & Longer

Sit less, stand more and you'll be healthier.  Or at least according to a study published in the European Heart Journal which found that participants who spent more time standing and moving in the course of a week, based on a monitor adhered to their thigh, had lower levels of blood sugar and cholesterol. The benefits were even greater, and including reductions in body-mass index and waist circumference, among those who took more steps during the day.

Further studies have concluded that sitting for too long during the day may increase your risk of death from nearly all health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease and stroke. Sitting for eight hours or more each day is associated with a 90 percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Unfortunately, the average adult spends between nine and 10 hours of their day sitting, and many office workers, such as telecommunications employees, may spend up to 12 hours each day sitting.2

Although exercise is part of the solution to a largely sedentary lifestyle, it cannot counteract the effects of sitting for long periods of time. Sitting at work and then relaxing at your computer or television at home, is associated with a mortality rate similar to that of smoking.

Although this may be a powerful motivator to sit only when necessary, the habit of chronic sitting may be difficult to overcome.

Walking is an important tool in your arsenal to attain and maintain good health, but I don't think of it as exercise. Instead, walking and movement are essential parts of the human experience your body requires to achieve good health and reduce your risk of disease.

So what to do, it is recommended that for every half hour sitting you spend 10 minutes standing.  In many work places you are seeing more and more computers on high tables so that workers are standing while they work.

The message is clear, don't sit as much, stand and walk more and eat healthy, lower carb, un-processed foods.