Sitting for more than three hours a day can cut two years off a
person’s life expectancy, even if he or she exercises regularly,
a new study finds. Watching TV for more than two hours a day can
shorten life expectancy even further, by another 1.4 years. The
findings suggest that when it comes to gleaning health benefits
from physical activity, it may not be enough just to get the
recommended amount of daily exercise — the government advises
about a half-hour of moderate activity a day for adults. But
what about the other 23.5 hours of every day? Researchers say
it’s important not to spend it sedentary or sitting. In the same
way that both pushing the gas and hitting the brake can adjust
the speed of your car, researchers say that physical activity
and sedentary behavior independently affect your health and life
expectancy. Whether “you’re physically active and meet the
exercise guidelines, or if you’re not active,” says Peter
Katzmarzyk, professor of epidemiology at Pennington Biomedical
Research Center and l