A new study was published recently in the Annals of Internal Medicine in which scientists found strong statistical correlations between sitting and mortality. The men and women who sat for the most hours every day, had the highest risk for early death, especially if this sitting often continued for longer than 30 minutes at a stretch. (By the way, a standing workstation may or may not offer any benefit to this problem, as the real culprit is lack of movement.)
Now for the good news!
The risk of early death dropped if sitting time was frequently interrupted. People whose time spent sitting lasted for less than 30 minutes at a stretch were less likely to have died than those whose sitting was more prolonged, even if the total hours of sitting time were the same!
The data is pretty clear that remaining sedentary for long periods of time contributes to poor health and a shortened life span. Unfortunately, the research gave no suggestions for how long a break should be, nor what kind of movement is the best.
Conclusion:
Get up and move at least every 30 minutes. Your life might just depend on it.