What are the health effects of prolonged sitting?

Even if you exercise, sitting for long periods is linked to breast cancer and colon cancer. Vonda Wright, MD, explains how regular "standing breaks" help counteract the effects of sitting.

Transcript

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Recent studies have shown that lots of sitting messes up your blood sugar, blood pressure, and even cholesterol.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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I'm Dr. Wright. Here's an important health tip, maybe the most important one you'll hear all day.

00:20

Stand up while you watch this. That's because sitting around is a serious threat to your heart.

00:27

Recent studies have shown that lots of sitting messes up your blood sugar, blood pressure, and even cholesterol, even if you get a lot of exercise.

00:36

But here's the newest shocker. Sitting contributes to cancer. Researchers have tied 49,000 US cases of breast cancer

00:45

and 43,000 cases of colon cancer each year to prolonged sitting. This puts sitting right up there with such wellknown cancer risk

00:54

raisers as smoking, obesity, and a poor diet. But getting up even for a few minutes

01:01

breaks up the bad body effects of sitting. Key enzymes move, blood flows, mind and muscles flex.

01:09

Get up and move at least every 30 minutes. Pace when you're on the phone. Stand and stretch.

01:17

Do double duty when you watch TV. Cook, fold laundry, empty the dishwasher,

01:23

get up and dance to the theme music, or ride a stationary bike. [AUDIO LOGO]