We know that spending lots of time sitting down isn't good for us, but just how much exercise is needed to match the negative health effects of sitting down all day? Research suggests about 30-40 minutes per day of building up a sweat should do it.
Up to 40 minutes of"moderate（温和的） to vigorous（有力的） intensity physical activity"every day is about the right amount to balance out 10 hours of sitting still, the research says—although any amount of exercise or even just standing up helps to some extent.
That's based on a study published in 2020 analyzing nine previous studies, involving a total of 44,370 people in four different countries who were wearing some form of fitness tracker. The analysis found the risk of death among those with a more sedentary（久坐的）lifestyle went up as time spent engaging in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity went down. In other words, putting in some reasonably intensive activities—cycling, brisk walking, gardening--can lower your risk of an earlier death.
While analyses like this one always require some detailed dot-joining across separate studies with different volunteers, timescales and conditions, the benefit of this particular piece of research is that it relied on relatively objective data from wearables—not data self-reported by the participants.
The research based on fitness trackers is broadly in line with the 2020 WHO guidelines, which recommend 150-300 mins of moderate intensity or 75-150 mins of vigorous intensity physical activity every week to balance out sedentary behaviour.
Walking up the stairs instead of taking the lift, playing with children and pets, taking part in yoga or dancing, doing household chores, walking, and cycling are all put forward as ways in which people can be more active—and if you can't manage the 30—40 minutes right away, the researchers say, start off small.
