Sitting still for too long can make you sick. Alongside e.g. unhealthy food, lack of exercise, smoking and stress, sitting still for too long is also considered a risk factor for lifestyle diseases.
Sitting still for to long affects the body negatively in numerous ways. You can read more about these negative effects here. Earlier, the opinion was that exercise could make up for sitting a lot during the rest of the day. Research however, show that this not seem to be the case.
The reason for this is that sitting still and lack of exercise is two different variables for health – and both of them have been proven to increase the risk of several common diseases. So even if you otherwise are physically active, sitting down for long periods of time affects your health negatively. According to the research, it is very important not to mix up these two variables – as often has been done in the past. This is relatively new information and means that some exercise during the evening does not compensate for a long day of sitting down.
This however certainly does not mean that you should stop exercising, but in addition to your exercise try not to sit still for too long. Even short periods of movements have proven a positive effect for the overall health.
References:
http://www.ur.se/Produkter/162874-UR-Samtiden-Idrott-for-hela-livet-Farligt-att-sitta-still
http://www.gih.se/stillasittande
http://urskola.se/Produkter/176879-UR-Samtiden-Planera-for-rorelse-Vinsterna-med-fysisk-aktivitet