Is Sitting the New Smoking?

By Cindy Williams, RN

Coordinator, Health Ministries

“Sitting is the new smoking.” Dr. James Levine coined this phrase roughly fifteen years ago. Dr. Levine also said “Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.” Media coverage of this and other statements from scientists looking at the effects of the sedentary lifestyle of most Americans has been widespread and intense. One could almost get the impression that it would be safer to smoke than to sit at your desk and work.

But is this true? A recent meta-analysis of studies on sedentary behavior compared to smoking says the answer is no. Sitting is not the new smoking. Smoking is known to cause more than 2,000 excess deaths per 100,000 people per year from any cause while people who sit the most have 190 excess deaths per 100,000 persons per year. Smoking is also highly addictive and creates the risk for secondhand exposure.

That doesn’t mean that sitting has no associated risks. It does. Sitting for more than eight hours a day compared with less than four hours a day is associated with some poor health outcomes. Cardiovascular disease, cancer and depression occur somewhat more frequently in those who sat the most. The most significant adverse outcome appears to be a doubling of the risk of type 2 diabetes. 

The news reports of some of the early studies on sitting and health seemed to indicate that you were doomed to poor health if you sat a lot. You couldn’t do anything to change the outcome. That’s kind of discouraging if you have a desk job!

A 2017 study in Norway demonstrated that this is probably not the case. Their findings showed an increase in the risk of diabetes only in people who were physically inactive. Their definition of physical inactivity was less than or equal to two hours of light activity and no vigorous activity each week. They compared these to people who got at least three hours of light activity and any amount of vigorous activity per week.

The real problem is that a very large portion of the population not only sits a lot but doesn’t engage in any physical activity. What about you? How much have you moved this week?

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7387807/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-016-4193-z

This article is part of a continuing series of health during these COVID times. For other articles, please see www.uccsda.org/healthministries.

Photo by Devon Divine on Unsplash