Exchanging Physical Activity for Sitting Time Associated with Lower Risk of Death for Less-Active Older Adults

Newswise, October 1, 2015 — In this study, investigators measured the amount of time older adults spent sitting and in different physical activities.

 They next used statistical models to estimate risk of death associated with replacing one hour of sitting time with an equal amount of physical activity.

The investigators found that for less active older adults, replacing sitting time with exercise or other activities, like household chores or walking, resulted in lower risk of death.

In contrast, highly active older adults had to replace an hour of sitting with purposeful exercise to reduce risk of death.

Although the researchers cautioned that their results were from statistical models, not from actual changes in behavior, replacing sitting time with physical activity appears to provide important mortality benefits, particularly for less-active adults.