EXERCISING for just half an hour a day could be enough to offset the risks of sitting down too much, a study suggests.
Any strenuous activity from 30 to 40 minutes daily can help reduce the damage caused by being sedentary, researchers found.
GettyFitness class exercising in the studio at the gym[/caption]
Their study showed people who spend long periods behind a desk or on the sofa at greater risk of an early death.
However, if they did that amount of intense exercise — like cycling, brisk walking or gardening — their risk was similar to people who are not sedentary for long periods.
Professor Ulf Ekelund, of the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, said: “Higher sedentary time is associated with higher mortality in less active individuals.
“In active individuals doing about 30 to 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity, the association between high sedentary time and risk of death is not significantly different from those with low amounts of sedentary time.”
The NHS recommends Brits do some type of physical activity every day, with adults aiming to do strength training at least twice a week.
They should try and do two-and-a-half hours of moderate intensity activity — like brisk walking — a week, according to the guidelines.
Previous research has shown that time spent sitting down increases your risk of heart attack and stroke when compared to any other level of activity — even sleeping or standing.
The latest study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, looked at how much exercise people need to do to lower the risk of long periods of sitting down.
Researchers analysed data from more than 44,000 middle-aged and older adults who wore fitness trackers for between four and 14.5 years, during which 3,451 people died.
Participants were split into groups based on how much time they spent sedentary on average, ranging from 8.5 to 10.5 hours a day.
They were also split based on their moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity time, ranging from eight minutes to 35 minutes a day on average.
Those who spent the most time sedentary were most likely to die of any cause, results showed.
However, those who spent the most time doing moderate to physical activity had a similar risk to those who spent the least time sedentary.
Professor Ekelund said: “Our results indicate that physical activity and sedentary time can be combined differently to reduce the risk of premature death.
“The association between sedentary time and higher risk of death appears attenuated, although not completely eliminated, in those in the highest third of time spent in MVPA.”