Research

Adherence

High volumes of sedentary time (prolonged sitting) are an independent predictor of chronic disease risk, metabolic dysfunction, and weight gain, regardless of whether an individual meets standard physical activity guidelines.

Do not rely solely on your workout to protect your health. If you sit for long periods, break it up. Stand up, walk, or move for a few minutes every hour. This 'breaking up' of sitting time is crucial for metabolic health and weight management, independent of your gym routine.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
recent evidence underlines the importance of also focusing on sedentary behaviours—the high volumes of time that adults spend sitting in their remaining ‘‘non-exercise’’ waking hours... recent evidence from biomarker studies and objective-measurement studies... highlights the importance of focusing on the balance of light-intensity activities and sedentary behaviours
Neville Owen et al. · British Journal of Sports Medicine · 2008

Why this rating

The paper is an editorial summarizing prospective observational studies and objective measurements; it does not present new primary RCT data itself.

Source

Too much sitting: a novel and important predictor of chronic disease risk?: Figure 1

Neville Owen et al. · British Journal of Sports Medicine · 2008

DOI 10.1136/bjsm.2008.055269

narrative_reviewCited 403×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →