It's come to this. By just doing your job and sitting at your desk all day, you could be raising your risk of death--a lot.

How? Your chair. It's a killer.

People who sit 11 or more hours a day are 40 percent more likely to die over the next three years, no matter how physically active they are the rest of the time, reports HealthDay News of a study from the University of Sydney in Australia.

The study: Led by Hidde Van der Ploeg, the team analyzed self-reported data provided by more than 222,000 men and women ages 45 and older, all of whom were part of Australia's 45 and Up Study, a large, ongoing study of healthy aging.

results: Mortality risks spiked to 40 percent after 11 hours of total daily sitting, but also the risk of death was 15 percent higher for those sitting between eight and 11 hours a day, compared with those who sit four or fewer hours a day. The elevated risks of dying from all causes remained, even after taking into account participants' physical activity, weight and health status. Still, the study did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between total sitting hours and death risk.

"The evidence on the detrimental health effects of prolonged sitting has been building over the last few years," Van der Ploeg told HealthDay News. "The study stands out because of its large number of participants and the fact that it was one of the first that was able to look at total sitting time. Most of the evidence to date had been on the health risks of prolonged television viewing."

We spend a lot of time sitting. Not only do we sit at work if we have an office job, but most adults spend 90 percent of their leisure time sitting down. Fewer than half of adults get the recommended 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity.

What can you do? If you sit long hours at work, then spend your leisure time on your feet.

"Yes, you have to work, but when you go home it's so important you don't go back to sitting in front of the computer or television," Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of Women and Heart Disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and a spokesperson for the American Heart Association, told HealthDay News. "After the eight-hour mark, the risks go up exponentially. It's really about what you're doing in your leisure time and making the decision to move."

The study findings were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

--From the Editors at Netscape