Is Sitting as Harmful as Smoking?

Since 2012, claims that prolonged sitting is as harmful as smoking have appeared in numerous news stories and media statements. An online search even finds "sitting is the new smoking" (sitting is the new cigarette) as the title of nearly 300 English-language articles. A quick Google search also reveals many Turkish news stories on this subject. But is sitting really as harmful to our health as smoking?.. Results published in November 2018 in American Journal of Public Health from research by Canadian, Australian and US scientists show that the health harms of prolonged sitting cannot be compared with those of smoking; the disease risk caused by smoking is about 10 times that of prolonged sitting or a sedentary lifestyle.

The sole exception concerns people sitting more than 8 hours daily, whose type-2 diabetes risk nearly doubles. Although smoking is also a risk factor for diabetes, sitting is a greater risk factor for diabetes.

Recently, Was the Aim to Explain the Health Risks of Sitting or to Exonerate Smoking?

• Any level of smoking increases the risk of death from any cause by approximately % 180, while prolonged sitting increases it by % 25. Direct comparison of the health consequences of sitting and smoking is therefore no longer recommended.
• One of the latest comprehensive studies (a meta-analysis) reports that sitting increases all-cause mortality risk 1,2-fold. In contrast, compared with nonsmokers, smokers had an all-cause mortality risk 2,8 times higher for men and 2,7 for women. Among heavy smokers consuming more than 40 cigarettes daily, the risk increases 4-fold for men and 4.4-fold for women.
• Comparing heavy smokers with nonsmokers, smoking causes annually, per 100 thousand people, 2000 additional deaths; comparing people with the shortest and longest sitting times, excessive sitting causes annually, per 100 thousand people, 190 additional deaths.

Thus, evaluated against current scientific evidence, prolonged sitting or a sedentary lifestyle certainly carries health risks, but these risks are not comparable with smoking. Exaggerating scientific evidence about the health risks of sitting, indirectly makes smoking appear less harmful than it is.

News exaggerating sitting's health risks by equating it with smoking increased in English-language sources from 2012 to 2016 by 12-fold. These stories appeared across media, including leading publications such as Time and publications linked to respected clinical institutions, such as Mayo Clinic Health Letter.

According to the research team, in 2012 alone the global cost of smoking-related diseases was 467 billion dollars, and in the 21st century, more than 1 billion people will die from smoking.

Nevertheless, We Need to Understand the Health Risks of Prolonged Sitting

Research across 54 countries involving 1,2 million people found sitting associated with % 3,8 of all-cause deaths. A meta-analysis showed type 2 diabetes risk, comparing people sitting fewer than 4 hours daily with those sitting more than 8 hours, to be almost twice as high among those sitting longer.

Sitting was also shown to increase cardiovascular disease risk 1,2-fold and mortality risk from these diseases 1,1-fold.

Researchers also show sitting associated with increased depression risk.

In addition, a study involving more than one million people found significantly higher all-cause mortality risk in those with prolonged daily sitting, including television viewing, and low physical activity. Although the study showed that prolonged sitting risks could be offset by 60 to 75 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily, exercise did not reduce the health risks of prolonged television viewing.

Conclusion

This comprehensive research makes clear that sitting and smoking are different behaviors with different risk levels. After the findings of Vallance and colleagues, the subject of this article, to the question "Is Sitting as Harmful as Smoking?" we can now directly answer "No". This exonerates neither sitting nor smoking, but means their harms cannot be compared.

The real comparison should have been between smoking and obesity , because obesity is the condition whose health risks are comparable with smoking! Even if not now, by the 2030s obesity is predicted to become as great a health problem worldwide as smoking. "The scientific community should also strive to communicate clear, accurate messages to the public and avoid sensationalized headlines supporting their positions or findings."