New study links sitting longer than 30 minutes to higher cancer death risk

Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery that sitting for longer than half an hour at a time each day is linked to elevated cancer mortality.

The study results have indicated that tracking more than 90,000 people over a decade found that sitting or lying down while awake for more than 30 minutes increases the risk of cancer death.

The risk increases for every extended hour of continuous inactivity. The study further indicated that interrupting sedentary time every 30 minutes with light movement breaks longer could help reduce this risk.

In this connection, the lead author of the study, Dr.Frederick said: “ What our data shows is that sitting for more than 30 minutes at a time is particularly linked to a higher risk of cancer. The good news is that breaking up your sitting time with something as simple as a short walk could be protective.

“Current health guidelines focus heavily on moderate or vigorous exercise, but our findings show that light movement should not be ignored. Moving forward, clinical trials will help us move beyond blanket advice and develop personalised strategies for breaking up sitting time.”

The findings published in PlOS Medicine mainly focused on the health effects of prolonged excessive sitting on a daily basis.

It was observed that long periods of sitting lying down while awake have been linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers. The team further analyzed data from wearable devices worn by more than 91,000 UK Biobank participants.

Notably, each additional hour of inactivity every day was associated with a 10% increase in the risk of cancer death.

It is recommended to replace long spells of inactivity with movement to alleviate that risk. People need to adopt a healthy active lifestyle incorporating light physical activity, such as ironing or washing which was associated with a 12% lower risk of cancer death.

At present, limitations to the research persist, considering the fact that the researchers performed a statistical analysis of an observational study.

The findings of the study sound interesting but further research would be needed.