Sitting Is The New Smoking

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- We talked about it before. There is no doubt that it is important to exercise throughout the day and to reduce the amount of time that you sit.

In fact, it has been said that sitting is the new smoking. Scientific research supports the concept.

According to a report in the Annals of Internal Medicine, sitting more than half the day, regardless of how much exercise people get at other times, is associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality.

Those spending more than 12-1/2 hours sitting per day are at the highest risk.

This was a study that was conducted over four years. It is quite clear that it is important to get up and walk around even for short periods of time.

In the past we thought that exercising for 30 minutes a day would help offset this, but the bottom line is you need to do both: you need to get up and move around throughout the day, and you also need to exercise on a regular basis.