Sedentary Living is Greatest Health Risk to Americans

Photo: un-sung, Flickr

Your couch habits? They're killing you. That's a fact, according to a leading expert on exercise and its health benefits. Steven Blair called American's sedentary living the biggest public health problem facing Americans this century.

Frighteningly, it's not a small minority sitting on the couch. Research reveals 25 to 35 percent of American adults are inactive. Meaning, they're in sedentary jobs, don't work out regularly and are pretty much inactive around the house. That describes up to 50 million Americans at increased risk of health problems and early death. It also explains why one-third of adults in the U.S. are obese.

Exercise may undermine thin when people overestimate their exertion, but fitness level has a whole lot to do with your mortality. Blair's research leans heavily on the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, an ongoing research effort since 1970 involving 80,000 patients. Various follow-up studies have found moderately fit men lived six years longer than unfit men, very fit women were 55 percent less likely to die from breast cancer than women in poor shape, and poor fitness level accounted for about 16 percent of all deaths in a pool of 40,842 study participants.

Don't give up on exercise if you're not reaching your goal weight. It only takes a little bit of moving around to reap the health benefits of exercise. Jumping on the treadmill, going for a 15-minute walk or just puttering around the garden could very well equate to a healthier, longer life.