--- title: Sitting Puts People Age 60 and Older at Risk for Disabilities description: Add it to the list: new research shows that prolonged periods on your bum puts the elderly at risk for disabilities canonical: https://time.com/8773/now-theres-another-reason-sitting-will-kill-you/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-20T20:24:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:26:50.839Z article:section: Health og:title: Sitting Puts People Age 60 and Older at Risk for Disabilities og:description: Add it to the list: new research shows that prolonged periods on your bum puts the elderly at risk for disabilities og:url: https://time.com/8773/now-theres-another-reason-sitting-will-kill-you/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9fe811539aba41c/698682e0cd804d7cd2cc96ee/sitting-health-disabilities.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1400 og:image:height: 788 og:image:alt: Prolonged periods of sitting hurts in the long run. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sitting Puts People Age 60 and Older at Risk for Disabilities twitter:description: Add it to the list: new research shows that prolonged periods on your bum puts the elderly at risk for disabilities twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9fe811539aba41c/698682e0cd804d7cd2cc96ee/sitting-health-disabilities.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Now There's Another Reason Sitting Will Kill You > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Feb 20, 2014 8:24 PM UTC  Prolonged periods of sitting hurts in the long run. Prolonged periods of sitting hurts in the long run. Paul Bradbury—Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Feb 20, 2014 8:24 PM UTC We all know that [sitting](http://dailyinfographic.com/sitting-down-is-killing-you-infographic) for long periods of time takes years off our lives, but now there’s another reason it’s getting us closer to our graves. [New research](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/19/sitting-disease-disability-older-adults/5583941/) published in the _Journal of Physical Activity and Health_ reports that prolonged sitting puts people over 60 at a risk for disabilities. Elderly adults in this age group spend on average two-thirds of their days sedentary, which equates to about nine hours a day. The link between age and disability held even when researchers controlled for obesity, socioeconomic status, physical activity, and other health factors. Here are some of the reasons not getting out of your chair can do you in. **1\. Disabilities are more common among sedentary people:** Researchers of the new study found that for every hour spent sedentary among people aged 60 and older was linked to a 50% greater chance of being disabled. **2\. Sitting too long makes us overweight:** People with more sedentary jobs are more likely to be overweight than people who sit less. Research [suggests](http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/fitness/articles/2011/05/26/sedentary-jobs-helping-to-drive-obesity-epidemic) that since more jobs require people to sit at a desk, Americans are burning 120 to 140 less calories a day than they did 50 years ago. **3\. You’re more likely to have a heart attack:** Researchers [studied](http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/13/the-dangers-of-sitting-at-work%E2%80%94and-standing/) the lifestyles and behaviors of more than 17,000 men and women over 13 years and discovered people who sit for the majority of their day have a 54% greater risk of dying from a heart attack. **4\. It impacts your mental health:** Women who reported more sitting outside of work in a 2012 [survey](http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12160-011-9320-y?LI=true) also reported poorer mental health. **5\. You’re at a greater risk for chronic disease:** A [survey](http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/10/1/20) of 63,048 Australian men found that men who sat for more than four hours a day were much more likely to suffer chronic ailments like heart disease and diabetes than men who sat for fewer. **6\. Life expectancy is shorter:** A 2011 [study](http://healthland.time.com/2011/08/17/want-to-live-longer-try-turning-off-your-tv/) found that every hour of TV people watched after age 25 was linked to a deduction of 22 minutes from their overall life expectancy. **7\. There’s a greater risk for kidney disease:** A 2012 [report](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22717340) found that people who sat less had a lower risk of kidney disease. The finding was especially prominent among women, who had a 30% lower risk of chronic kidney disease if they sat for only three hours during the work day. **8\. Your risk of dying from colorectal cancer is greater:** A 2013 [study](http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/early/2013/01/21/JCO.2012.45.9735.short?rss=1) found that people with colorectal cancer who spent more of their free time sitting had a greater risk of dying from the disease. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/8773/now-theres-another-reason-sitting-will-kill-you/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/8773/now-theres-another-reason-sitting-will-kill-you/"},"headline":"Now There's Another Reason Sitting Will Kill You","datePublished":"2014-02-20T20:24:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:26:50.839Z","description":"Add it to the list: new research shows that prolonged periods on your bum puts the elderly at risk for disabilities","url":"https://time.com/8773/now-theres-another-reason-sitting-will-kill-you/","keywords":["Exercise","Diet & Fitness","Sitting"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9fe811539aba41c/698682e0cd804d7cd2cc96ee/sitting-health-disabilities.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9fe811539aba41c/698682e0cd804d7cd2cc96ee/sitting-health-disabilities.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Prolonged periods of sitting hurts in the long run.","caption":"Prolonged periods of sitting hurts in the long run.","creditText":"Paul Bradbury—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/exercise/","name":"Exercise"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/8773/now-theres-another-reason-sitting-will-kill-you/","name":"Now There's Another Reason Sitting Will Kill You"}}]}] ```