Sitting increases risk of heart failure in men, study shows

The health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle are numerous – and now new research reveals that men who spend more time sitting have an increased risk of heart failure, Counsel and Heal reported.

In a study published in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure, researchers analyzed the health of 84,170 men ages 45 to 69 without heart failure. Over an eight-year period, they analyzed the men’s exercise levels in addition to their time spent being sedentary.

At the study’s end, men with low levels of physical activity were 52 percent more likely to develop heart failure compared to men with high levels of physical activity. Furthermore, men who spent five or more hours a day sitting were 34 percent more likely to develop heart failure compared to those who spent less than two hours a day sitting – regardless of how much they exercised.

"Be more active and sit less. That's the message here," lead researcher Deborah Rohm Young of Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, California, said in a press release.