Study: More running doesn’t equal less sitting

Do you ever find yourself coming home from a run, only to lounge on the couch all evening? You’re not alone.

Related article: Employers recognize dangers of sedentary lifestyle

Marathon and half-marathon participants completed a questionnaire asking their weekly training durations, television and video game habits, and workday sitting hours. Two-hundred-and-eighteen participants took part in the survey completed at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Austin. and reported that they average 6.5 hours of training each week, compared with over 10 hours of sitting on workdays. There didn’t appear to be any connection between time spent exercising and time spent sitting. The hours exercised each week did not seem to reduce the time spent sitting.

The findings suggest that many recreational runners are both active and highly sedentary.

“The fact is that exercise, even at very high doses, does not occupy much time in most people’s days,” Dr. Whitfield, one of the researchers on the study, told the New York Times. “It’s pretty safe to say that it would a good idea for most of us to spend more of our time up and moving.”

Although it did not study the health of participants, the study highlights how much time even those who consider themselves active spend sitting each day.