Get up every hour from your seat and walk a few minutes, and cut your risk of early death by 33% (by 41% in those with chronic kidney disease). Standing won't do it - have to move. Just make sure that little walk is not to the refrigerator. Other studies have found that sitting for long periods may increase the risk for chronic disease and early death. From Scientific American:
A Little Bit of Walking Can Add up to Improve Your Health
Want to reduce your risk of dying at a young age? Try walking casually for as little as 2 minutes per hour.While it is well known that intense exercise can help you get fitter, a new study has found that even a little exercise can still go a long way. Study participants who traded time on the sofa for a total of 30 minutes of walking during the day reduced their risk of dying over a three-year period by 33 percent.
For the participants with chronic kidney disease, the risk of dying was reduced by more than 40 percent, according to the findings, published today (April 30) in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, a complement to the government's diet guidelines, recommend that people do at least 75 minutes of high-intensity aerobic physical activity (such as running, swimming or biking), or 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity (such as brisk walking) every week to reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases. But the researchers on the new study wanted to know what the minimum threshold was—the lowest amount of physical activity that could still provide health benefits, said Dr. Srinivasan Beddhu, a kidney specialist at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City and lead author of the new study. [How Many Calories Am I Burning? (Infographic)]
"This study specifically looked at what intensity of activity should be used to replace sedentary activity.... being sedentary is an active choice to indulge in activities that barely raise the energy expenditure above basal metabolic rate." That threshold of intensity, Beddhu said, appears to be low. The study found that "light-intensity activities," such as casual walking, are beneficial. In contrast, activities that are "low intensity," such as standing or writing at a desk, aren't enough to provide any meaningful health benefits, the study found.
For this study, Beddhu and his colleagues at the University of Utah and the University of Colorado used information from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which includes data collected from an accelerometer, a device that measures motion. This enabled the researchers to study the activities of more than 3,600 adults representing the general U.S. population, including 383 adults with chronic kidney disease. Over the course of three years, 137 of these participants died as a result of various causes. In general, those who exercised more were less likely to die during the study period.
Positive effects of exercise could be seen down to the level of 30 minutes per day of any kind of light activity....it could be attained merely by getting up to move around a few minutes every hour. The finding could be particularly beneficial for people with kidney disease, who tend to be sedentary and inactive throughout most of the day, Beddhu added.