New Yorkers, who are known to be living in the world's busiest city are among those who sit around for longer hours, which could lead to dangerous health effects. Office workers, especially in Manhattan, have the highest sitting time, exceeding the healthy time limit.
Researchers of the study published in the journal, Preventing Chronic Disease, concluded that an average New Yorker spends more than seven hours sitting. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises that reducing time spent sitting to only three hours could reduce health risks like heart disease.
The Harvard Medical School also published on their website that sitting for long hours could also cause diabetes and premature death.
Through interviews by phone, the CDC researchers gathered data from 3,811 adults who lived in New York from 2010 to 2011. The population-based study shows that those who work in higher-paying jobs spend more time sitting with an average of 8.2 hours a day, than those in lower-paying jobs, who spend 6.3 hours sitting in one day.
Dr. Stella S. Yi, NYU Langone's population health assistant professor who also led the study, told Medical Xpress that people should consider doing physical exercises to reduce high-sitting patterns at homes and offices.
"Interventions for decreasing sitting time in the worksite and home are needed to improve health outcomes across all groups-not just those identified as having the longest sitting times," said Dr. Yi.
It may be understood that exercise could greatly reduce health risks, but Dr. Yi added that people who do physical activities regularly, but still sit around for long hours are still prone to diseases. "Although more information is accumulating about the dangerous health effects of sitting - even if you exercise regularly-few studies have actually quantified how much time people spend in this position."
Research suggests that it would be healthy for people to spend more time standing and walking.
