The Hidden Health Risk of Sitting for Hours Without a Break

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journal PLOS Medicine, was led by Frederick Ho of the University of Glasgow in the UK and colleagues. Sedentary behavior includes sitting, reclining, or lying down while awake. It can happen almost anywhere, including at a desk, in a car, or while watching television. Previous research has connected high levels of sedentary time with poorer health, but most guidelines do not distinguish between sitting continuously and sitting for the same amount of time with regular movement breaks. How Researchers Measured Sedentary Behavior To explore that difference, researchers analyzed data from 91,292 UK Biobank participants who wore activity monitors for seven days. Their health was then tracked for a median of 12.38 years. The researchers separated sedentary time into two main patterns. Prolonged sedentary behavior involved periods lasting at least 30 minutes in which at least 90% of the...