Sitting For More Than 30 Minutes At a Time Linked To Higher Risk of Cancer Death
5 88An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Researchers who tracked more than 90,000 people over a decade found that sitting or lying down while awake for more than 30 minutes in one period each day was associated with an increased risk of cancer death. The risk increases for every additional hour of continuous inactivity, the findings suggest. However, the researchers also found breaking up periods of sedentary behavior longer than 30 minutes with bursts of physical activity could help reduce the risk. Getting up every half-hour, even for a short walk around the office, could do wonders for your health, they said.
[...] The findings, published in Plos Medicine, focused on the health effects of prolonged sedentary behavior on a daily basis. [...] The team analyzed data from wearable devices worn by more than 91,000 UK Biobank participants, who were followed for an average of 12 years. The findings suggest prolonged inactivity lasting more than 30 minutes was associated with cancer risks. Each additional hour of prolonged inactivity every day was associated with a 10% increase in risk of cancer death. However, replacing long spells of inactivity with movement appeared to reduce that risk. Substituting one hour of sedentary behavior each day with light physical activity, such as ironing or washing up, was associated with a 12% lower risk of cancer death.
Replacing 30 minutes of inactivity each day with 30 minutes of moderate physical activity, such as walking at an average pace, was associated with an 8% lower risk. The risk was 22% lower when five minutes of inactivity was replaced with five minutes of vigorous physical activity each day, the study suggested. There were limitations to the research, including the fact that the researchers performed a statistical analysis of an observational study, so could not prove causation.
5 comments
wait, what? (Score: 5, Interesting)
by usedtobestine ( 7476084 ) on Thursday July 02, 2026 @10:09PM (#66220778)
What control group did they use, and where did they find people to study that don't sleep at night?
Re:wait, what? (Score: 5, Funny)
by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Friday July 03, 2026 @12:57AM (#66220930)
Nice trick, I spent 31 minutes looking for the control group.
Standing Desks (Score: 5, Insightful)
by dontbemad ( 2683011 ) on Thursday July 02, 2026 @10:41PM (#66220824)
Everytime I see the subject of standing desks brought up here (among other places), I see droves of commenters come out of the woodwork to announce that "standing is actually worse for you than sitting". Well, this is exactly why I bought a standing desk; not so that I can stand for 8 hours instead of sit, but so that I can switch between the two frequently. Add to that a cheap under-desk walking pad, and I can get a surprising amount of movement while hard at work.
That being said, I am still very lucky to work at home and take many small trips to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, to the garden to water plants, and more. Should I be forced back into an office (not unlikely), a standing desk would be the first thing I'd acquire.
I guess I'm already dead? (Score: 5, Insightful)
by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Thursday July 02, 2026 @11:16PM (#66220842)
When I was young, I thought older people who shrugged these kinds of things off with "when it's my time, it's my time" were irrational. I'm past the half-way mark now and I get it.
I am not going to spend my life on min/maxing my health, because no matter what I do, I'm going to die. If I exercise, first I'm spending my time on something I dislike, second I will likely end up with joint issues and instead of cancer I'll just be in chronic pain.
There are limits, and I'm sure I'm making these choices at least half-blind to the odds, but I'm making the choices regardless. I eat decently but not a health-optimized diet, I make sure I move around enough that I don't lock up, and I make sure I don't get too fat to be active when I choose to be active, but I enjoy life more with my brain than my body.
If that means I lose one of the 80-90 years I'm likely to allocated given my current health, I'm absolutely at peace with that outcome. Unless science can tell me that changing my habits will give me decades more life, it's just not worth it to me to change my lifestyle over a significant but ultimately small shortening of my potential lifespan.
Tip: drink lots of water (Score: 5, Interesting)
by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Friday July 03, 2026 @12:05AM (#66220882)
It's good for your system and forces you to move every 90 minutes or so. Just not before long meetings.