Desk jobs could make you four times more likely to DIE EARLY

Sitting for long periods of time raises mortality risk

SITTING for long periods of time and getting a good night’s sleep could QUADRUPLE your risk of death.

 

Having a long night’s sleep might make you feel chipper, but sleeping for over nine hours each night and sitting for more than seven hours a day puts you at risk of a premature death, when combined with no or very little exercise.

So much so that a person who sleeps too much, sits down for most of the day and is physically active for less than 150 minutes each week are FOUR times as likely to die as a person who leads a healthy lifestyle. 

The team from the University of Sydney in Australia looked at the health behaviours of 23,000 participants in the ’45 and Up’ study - Australia’s largest study looking at health trends as the population age.

 



Too much sleep (over 9 hours) is a risk to health say researchers



Taking in to account all lifestyle factors linked to disease - smoking, high alcohol consumption, a bad diet, not exercising and poor sleep patterns - the researchers set out to look at the exact combination of these that indicate a greater risk of death.

Aside from too much sleep, excess sitting and a lack of exercise, the team revealed that smoking, drinking too much alcohol and a LACK of sleep (less than the recommended seven) also quadruples your risk of an early death.

Other combinations DOUBLING your chances of mortality include, being physically inactive and having too much sleep, being physically inactive and sitting too much, plus smoking and drinking too much alcohol.

 



Smoking, alcohol and poor diet, when combined, can prove deadly



Lead author Dr Melody Ding said: “Evidence has increased in recent years to show that too much sitting is bad for you and there is growing understanding about the impact of sleep on our health but this is the first study to look at how those things might act together.

"When you add a lack of exercise into the mix, you get a type of 'triple whammy' effect. Our study shows that we should really be taking these behaviours together as seriously as we do other risk factors such as levels of drinking and unhealthy eating patterns.”

Study co-author Professor Adrian Bauman added: "Non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer) now kill more than 38 million people around the world, and cause more deaths than infectious disease. 

 

Smoking AND drinking combine to double your mortality risk

“Better understanding what combination of risk behaviours poses the biggest threat will guide us on where to best target scarce resources to address this major - and growing - international problem.”

UK adults (aged 19-64) are advised to partake in at least 150-minutes of moderate aerobic activity, such as cycling or walking, every week and strength exercises on more than two or more days a week, say NHS guidelines. 

Adults aged 26-64 are advised to sleep for 7-9 hours each night, with the elderly (65+) recommended to get 7-8 hours.