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More Time On Your Feet, Less Time In Your Seat

You've heard it before: too much sitting at work or home is bad for you. More discouraging, you can run marathons and sitting that 8-9 hours a day can still raise your risk of disease and early death.

The researchers of a new study (actually a new analysis of 47 studies) went as far as to compare a chair to a cigarette. Seems a bit strong, but the evidence is pretty strong that sitting parked in a chair all day is a risk factor for disease.

Now it would be great if all of us could have standing desks or treadmill desks, but that's simply not the case. Sit all day -- sit in rush hour, then go home and watch some tube and you've really put a strain on your body.

Standing Desk
Office workers at a standing desk (credit: CBS)

Blood pools in your legs when you sit. Your heart works up to 50 percent harder to pump blood, plus you release some bad chemicals which raise cholesterol and blood sugar. A chair can truly be a health hazard.

So what can you do?

Get up and walk once for 2 minutes every half hour. Set your smartphone to remind you.

Stand when using the phone.

Fidget ... when you sit, contract calves and rotate ankles as often as you can.

Use stairs. Take a walk at lunch. In other words, if you can find a chance to move -- move it.

Even use inter-office email less in the office. Take a walk across the room to talk to a co-worker.

Not only will movement at work preserve your health, it will also make you feel better. You know how sluggish you feel when you've been sitting for a long time.

And by all means, don't forget to keep moving at home, especially if you are parked in front of the tube. Wiggle, fidget and get up and move during commercials.

Finally, don't forget the workouts. In the research, people who sat all day and did not get regular exercise had a lot more health problems at an earlier age than people who got some form of exercise on a regular basis.

The study can be found in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Dave Hnida is CBS4's Medical Editor. He blogs about the latest studies and trends in the health world. Read his latest blog entries, check out his bio or follow him on Twitter @drdavehnida.

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