Sitting all day is deadly

Office workers must exercise for an hour a day to counter death risk, says a Lancet study:

Research on more than one million adults found that sitting for at least eight hours a day could increase the risk of premature death by up to 60 per cent.

Scientists said sedentary lifestyles were now posing as great a threat to public health as smoking, and were causing more deaths than obesity.

They urged anyone spending hours at their desk to change their daily routine to take a five minute break every hour, as well as exercise at lunchtimes and evenings.

An hour of brisk walking or cycling spread over a day was enough to combat the dangers of eight hours sitting in the office, they said.

Currently, public health advice in the UK recommends just half this level of activity.

But almost half of women and one third of men fail to achieve even this.

One of the many reasons to cycle places rather than drive.

And if you can’t cycle, walk. Try walking to the shop. Cycle with your kids to school as an escort. It’s not impossible to build up an hour, and it’s worth it.