Office workers 'need one hour of physical activity a day'

Office workers and other sedentary people face an increased risk of death, but it can be reversed if they engage in one hour of physical activity a day, a major new study announced today.

The good news for people who sit a lot is that they don't need to sweat buckets in the gym - gentler activities such as brisk walking or cycling for pleasure are enough to offset the damage.

An international research team looked at data from 16 previous studies and featuring more than one million people, mainly over-45s from western Europe, Australia and the US, says The Guardian.

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It found people who sat for eight or more hours a day and did not exercise had a 9.9 per cent chance of dying between two to 18 years after the data had been recorded.

However, those who sat for eight or more hours but did at least one hour of physical activity every day had only a 6.8 per cent chance of being dead within the same period.

Lead researcher Professor Ulf Ekelund, of the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences and Cambridge University, said going to the gym was not necessary to reverse the increased risk.

"You don’t need to do sport, you don't need to go to the gym," he said. "It's OK doing some brisk walking, maybe in the morning, during lunchtime, after dinner in the evening. You can split it up over the day, but you need to do at least one hour."

He added: "It's not easy to do one hour of physical activity a day but... the average TV viewing time in adults in the UK today is 3hrs 6mins or something like that, more than three hours.

"I don't know if it's too much to ask that just a little bit of those three hours may be devoted to physical activity."