Inactivity Tied to 5.3 Million Deaths Worldwide, Similar to Smoking

Sitting around may be as deadly as smoking, a new study suggests. New research in The Lancet finds about one in 10 deaths worldwide are caused by people not getting up and engaging in physical activity such as walking 30 minutes a day for five days a week…This is a super, super analysis," Dr. James Levine, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who was not involved in the study, told WebMD. "We know that as soon as somebody gets out of their chair, their blood sugar improves, their blood cholesterol and triglycerides improve, and that's very consistent. Every time you get up it gets better. Every time you sit down it gets worse."