How Sitting Too Much Might Contribute To Certain Cancers

Sitting for extended periods of time has been a sort of 21st century epidemic – TV-gazing isn’t new, but streaming movies and tablets aren’t helping our habit of sitting. In studies, sedentariness has been connected to obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and diabetes; it’s even linked to an earlier death. Now, a new study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggests that sitting is also connected to cancer – not all types, but to colon and endometrial (uterine) cancer. And it’s not just because sitting takes us away from exercising – even those who sit a lot and exercise have an increased risk for these cancers. This means that there’s something intrinsic about the unhealthiness of sitting apart from lack of exercise.