Sitting too much can lead to early death, even if you exercise.

Advances in technology over the years have significantly reduced the opportunities and needs for people to move around. More and more people spend their time sitting in front of a computer or television instead of moving around.

A team from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) studied 5,856 women aged 63 to 99 for 10 years. They wore activity trackers on these people and used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the data.

A total of 1,733 participants died. Those who sat for more than 11 hours a day had a 57% higher mortality rate than those who sat for less than 9.5 hours a day.

According to a study published in 2019, exercising more does not reduce the risk of diseases linked to too much sitting, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

However, a new study in Australia has shown that walking 9,000 - 10,500 steps a day helps reduce the risk of early death, even in people who sit a lot.

But the Australian study did not use special software to determine whether participants were sitting. For example, if a participant stood still for half an hour, the bracelet would still record that person sitting for that period.

Therefore, the data of the above study may not be accurate. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults should limit sitting too much and sitting for long periods of time without breaks.

For the UCSD study, sitting 11 hours a day is too much sitting, while some other studies say 7 hours.

Most researchers agree that a person should not sit for more than 30 minutes because this causes blood sugar and blood pressure to rise.

So is there any way to reduce the risk of death from sitting too much?

According to the page ScienceAlert, we should stand up and move around while doing work or making calls.

Office workers should use a sit-stand desk, a type of desk that allows them to adjust the height and stand up to work.

When watching TV, we should stand up and move around during commercials. If possible, we should use some technological devices (smart watches, smart bracelets...) that have a reminder feature when we sit too long.

If it is inconvenient or impossible to stand up and move around, try doing arm exercises.

A study published in 2020 demonstrated that arm exercises reduced blood sugar levels in wheelchair users (2 minutes of arm exercise every 20 minutes).