A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that sitting for more than 3 hours per day is responsible for for approximately 433,000, or 3.8% of all-cause mortality deaths across the 54 nations in the study. Investigators also estimate that reducing sitting time to less than 3 hours per day would increase life expectancy by an average of 0.2 years. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/ehs-pds032316.php
Yeah okay, I'll get right on it. I'm not a high-energy guy and I appreciate being able to spend a lot of time sitting down. I go to the gym 3 times a week, and when I'm sitting I'm careful to stand up for ten minutes every now and then.
It's not necessarily that sitting is an 'intrinsic part of human nature', it's actually a part of a lot of people's daily working life. And this study doesn't say anything about the overall health/diet/lifestyle/family history of the people involved. How do they know it's the sitting that caused the early deaths? Where the control case? Of course, I am writing this while sitting down, and have been for most of the day, so maybe I'm just in denial...
Or by ignoring it, because all you would be sacrificing is 2 1/2 months of life on average, according to their figures. Rarely have I come across a less compelling case for adjusting my lifestyle.