Sedentary Lifestyle

Americans typically spend upward of six hours per day sitting, a behavior associated with a wealth of adverse health outcomes, including early death. This article explains how present-day hunter-gatherer societies spend a comparable amount of time being sedentary without the typical risks. A study on the Hadza, a modern hunter-gatherer society in Tanzania, found that they are typically inactive for about 9.9 hours per day. It's possible that the way the Hadza are lounging—squatting, kneeling, or resting on the ground—prevents the negative health impacts associated with sitting.

Sitting for prolonged periods of time can cause a range of health issues, from cancer to obesity. This article details a new study that suggests people older than 50 can cut the risk of sitting-related premature death through daily exercise. The study ran from 2003 to 2020 and focused on 12,000 people aged 50 and older who wore wearable devices that tracked their daily activity, each of whom was followed up with for at least two years. Results showed that a higher duration of daily physical activity consistently was associated with a lower risk of death, regardless of a participant's total daily sedentary time.

The science is clear that long periods of sitting are associated with negative health outcomes, including heart disease, dementia, and early death. This article explains what exactly happens inside the body that makes sitting so bad. After a long...

The chair was invented about 5,000 years ago, but the era of sitting (and, therefore, prolonged sitting) didn't really begin until the Industrial Revolution. Sitting in a chair has now become the default position for much of the world, a problem...

A growing body of research suggests that prolonged periods of sitting are associated with adverse health outcomes, including Type 2 diabetes, cancer, and early death. This UK National Health Service article explores why people should sit less. As...

People who sit for at least 10 hours per day are more likely to develop dementia, according to a study published in 2023. This article details the study on the murky relationship between brain health and prolonged sitting. This study involved...