More than one in 10 deaths can be linked to too much time sitting down, a study has found.
Researchers say more than six hours a day in a chair was associated with 69,000 deaths in a year.
Inactivity is known to raise risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and certain cancers, but the scale of its impact had not been revealed.
Lead author Leonie Heron, of Queen’s University Belfast, said: “You need to move your body to keep it healthy, the more the better.”
Those fatalities cost the NHS £700million in 2016 said the scientists after looking into UK data.
Figures show 30% of adults in England sit for at least six hours on weekdays, up to 37% on weekends.
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National guidelines say we should sit less but offer no target.
Ms Heron said: “It would be helpful for the public to have a limit on how many hours a day.”
But Professor Naveed Sattar of Glasgow University said long sitting is OK as long as people are active at other times.
“People should not worry about sitting at work if that’s what they have to do.” he said.
