Sitting Too Much May Boost Odds of Dying

Too late.

Don't take this sitting down, but spending too much time in a chair is bad for your health -- really, really bad.

New research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows that people who spend a lot of time sitting may be up to 40% more likely to die from any cause, compared to people who don't sit as long.

The study tracked nearly 222,500 Australian adults for about three years. During that time, people's odds of dying dovetailed with how much time they spent sitting.

Compared to people who spent less than four hours per day sitting, the odds of dying were:

15% higher for people who sat for at least eight hours
40% higher for people who sat for 11 or more hours a day
“Our findings add to the mounting evidence that public health programs should focus not just on increasing population physical activity levels, but also on reducing sitting time,” the researchers write.

Ban sitting for public health reasons.