Sitting Down Can Kill You Faster, Nonhle.

She has been telling pretty much every South African to ‘sit down’. Well, another reason not to listen to her! A study has linked sitting down all day with an increase in death. It may be time to get off that chair of yours.

Think about how many hours in your day that you spend seated. A study spanning four years has revealed that people who spend more time on their rear end are more likely to die sooner than those who, well, don’t. It sounds a tad inconclusive, but researchers in Australia have tracked the mortality (death) and living habits of more than 222 497 individuals (45 years and older) and have found that people who passed away tended to sit a lot more than their living counterparts.

The Atlantic newspaper reported that out of 5405 deaths that were registered, those who sat for an average of 11 hours per day were 40 percent more likely to die than those who sat 4 hours or less, per day. Even when scientists adjusted the data in order to take into account age, weight, physical activity, and general health, it was revealed that those who exercise for 5 hours or more a week, but still sat around, were most likely to die than those who were completely docile, but still more likely to die than those who move around constantly.

The exact reason for this is still vague, but there are solutions. For people who work on computers all day, it is helpful to get a standing desk. It is believed that Facebook employees use them a lot. As a matter of interest; also when don’t spend too much time sitting with a laptop on your lap because it could fry your sperm. Please also note that fried sperm is not a healthy (or cheaper) form of contraception.

So there we go. Get up and get moving. Life is too short to die young and have fried sperm.