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We sit a lot in our modern lives.

Unfortunately, that's not very good for us.

Sitting for a long period of time in one position, our body's not really used to that.

Your body's speaking to you and saying, hey, get up and move around at least a little bit.

It's Wednesday, December 18th.

And just like every day, today is Science Friday.

I'm sci-fi producer Charles Berkwist.

Millennials spend more than 60 hours per week sitting down.

When you're working at a desk all day or commuting long hours or simply enjoying some TV at the end of the day, it's easy to see how that sitting time adds up.

New research shows that all that sitting increases the risk for heart disease and accelerate signs of aging.

And the minimum recommended physical activity guidelines, about 20 minutes per day of moderate exercise,

aren't enough to counter the hazards of spending most waking hours in a seat.

Guest host Kathleen Davis spoke to two researchers behind the study.

Here with me to explain are two authors of that study.

Dr. Shandra Reynolds, professor in the Institute of Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado in Boulder,

also Professor Emeritus at the University of California Riverside, and Ryan Brollman, PhD candidate in genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics at the University of California, Riverside. Welcome both of you to Science Friday. Yes, thank you. It's great to be here. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Okay, so Ryan, sitting has gotten a bad rap. There was this phrase that was going on a few years ago that

sitting is the new smoking. What's your perspective on this? Yeah, so there was a lot of information

coming out about sitting and, you know, how bad is it? Is it, as you said, a lot of people

wondered, is it the new smoking? But really, it's just, it's another behavior to really just focus in on.

There are many different behaviors that we do that kind of form the puzzle pieces of our health.

And I think sitting is one of those puzzle pieces.

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