Friday, 04/17/2026
Health
A desk job could make you 60% more likely to die earlier
Update: 04/09/2016
Sedentary working lifestyles are causing 90,000 unnecessary\r\ndeaths a year
\r\n\r\nAdults who sit down for at least 8 hours a day must do 1\r\nhour of exercise
\r\n\r\nBut if that's not possible, brief spurts of activity would\r\nhelp to cut the risk
\r\n\r\nResponsible for 1 in 6 deaths, mostly heart disease, strokes\r\nand cancer
\r\n\r\nNine-to-five office lifestyles are fuelling a ‘pandemic’ of\r\ninactivity and leading to 90,000 unnecessary deaths a year, experts have\r\nwarned.
\r\n\r\nThey say adults who sit down for at least eight hours every\r\nday must do at least an hour’s daily exercise to undo all the harm.
\r\n\r\nThis could be a brisk walk or steady bike ride and it would\r\nslash their risk of dying early by 60 per cent, according to the Cambridge\r\nUniversity study.
\r\n\r\nBut if they can’t manage an hour, even brief spurts of\r\nactivity such as walking to the printer or popping down for a coffee would\r\nhelp.
\r\n\r\nThe 20-year study, based on data from more than one million\r\nadults, estimates inactivity is now costing the UK economy £1.7 billion a year.
\r\n\r\nIt is directly responsible for one in six deaths, nearly\r\n90,000 a year, mostly from heart disease, strokes, cancer, type 2 diabetes and\r\ndementia.
\r\n\r\nThe study, published in the Lancet, also estimated 37 per\r\ncent of UK adults are completely inactive meaning they spend less than 30\r\nminutes of their day on their feet
\r\n\r\nAnd in addition to their sedentary office lifestyles, the\r\naverage man and woman spends three hours watching television when they get\r\nhome.
\r\n\r\nThe research claims inactivity now takes as many lives as\r\nsmoking and is far deadlier than obesity.
By The Daily Mail
Sophie Borland