If so, you may be putting your health at risk…

We spend 50 to 55 percent of our waking hours sitting, research suggests. As we get older, we linger even more in our chairs. And although sitting may seem harmless, too much seat-time could be bad for your health.

“Bottoms” up!

A sedentary life raises the risk for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, studies have found. What’s more, there are estimates that this lifestyle can contribute to deaths that are due to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer.

Although experts don’t fully understand how sitting affects our bodies, they do suspect it causes changes in our blood vessels that, at the very least, affect our heart risks. Our vessels become “deconditioned” faster than we think. It may only take days or weeks—not months or years—for the unhealthy effects of sitting to kick us in the rear.

Why exercise may not be enough

Is exercising the answer? Maybe, but reducing chair time itself may also be critical. Some studies suggest that too much “down time” may be bad even if we meet current exercise recommendations. In other words, too much sitting may be unhealthy even if you work out regularly.

Consider, for example, metabolic syndrome, a condition associated with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other cardiovascular risk factors. A report in the journal Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders found that men who sat for four hours a day outside of work, watching TV or using the computer, had almost double the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, compared with men who sat less than an hour a day during their free time. This was true whether or not they exercised 150 minutes a week. Women who sat more than four leisure hours a day had a 56 percent higher risk for metabolic syndrome, but only if they didn’t meet exercise recommendations.

Please don’t be seated

Many of us are caught in daily routines that keep us stuck in our seats. The solution? Taking more breaks. A study in Diabetes Care found that people who broke up their sedentary time had healthier blood sugar levels.

Here are a few suggestions on how you can sit less during the day, particularly if you have a desk job:

  • Rework your commute. Park your car in the far lot at work. Or take public transportation that requires you to walk to the train or bus.
  • Make a list of at least three times during the workday when you can get out of your seat. Conference call? Take it on your cell and walk. Coffee break? Replace it with a 10-minute stair climb. E-mail? Read it standing up.
  • Clean your office. Similar to housework, it counts as activity if you speed up your heart rate.
  • Work at home? Do some push-ups or sit-ups instead of surfing the Web between tasks.