Live Longer? Stand More

Do you want to live a longer, healthier life? Maybe standing more is the answer.

It looks like the more you sit during the day, the more likely you are to die early on.

Decades ago, hardly anyone sat all day long. But now we sit in the car on our way to work, then sit at work all day, then sit to get back home. And once we're home, we sit to watch TV.

Now it looks like all of that sitting is taking its toll.

Researchers just found that there is a link between how much time we spend standing every day and our chances of dying. They found that if we could limit sitting to under 3 hours a day, then we'd live 2 years longer. And you can add another 1.4 years by cutting back TV time to less than 2 hours a day as well.

The thinking is that sitting decreases your overall physical activity and can affect your metabolic function during the day --- that can increase your changes of an early death. And since most of our sitting during the day happens at work, making small changes might help. Like getting up to talk to coworkers instead of emailing or calling them, taking a small walk during your lunch break and standing up for a few minutes every hour can all help contribute to the amount of time you stand during the day.

So when you can, stand up, or better yet, walk around. That could make all the difference in the world, especially later in life.