Regular Workouts Don’t Counteract the Effects of Sitting Too Much

If you think your regular gym session counteracts your sedentary lifestyle, then think again. Researchers from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine recently found that people with a sedentary lifestyle have an elevated risk of blood clots in their legs – even if they meet exercise guidelines.

To identify the impact of prolonged sitting researchers used data from 15,000 middle aged people from over 20 years. They looked at the incidence of venous thromboembolism and how it related to the participants’ TV-watching behaviors. They found that frequent television watchers who exercised regularly were still 1.8 times more likely to develop a blood clot than exercisers who rarely watched TV.

These findings were published in Reader’s Digest in November 2017.