According to the actress Mae West, "Too much of a good thing is wonderful!" Unfortunately, in reality, most of the decadent indulgences we pursue - including alcohol and rich foods - are not at all good for us, especially when taken in large quantities.
A new study recently indicates that sleeping too much and being a couch potato is very unhealthy. According to the study "people who spend most of the day sitting and sleeping too much may be as likely to die early as people who smoke or drink too much"
The study called The Sax Institute "45 and Up" gathered 230,000 subjects in Australia with ages 45 and up. For each subject, researchers gathered data on the unhealthy activities and behavior these people indulged in. This included smoking, alcohol drinking, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and having a sedentary lifestyle which included sleeping too much (9 hours per night)
30 percent of the subjects exhibit unhealthy behaviors and after 6 years these subjects, around 16,000 of them has passed on.
The study shows that physical inactivity would lead to a shorter life span. The study also indicated that a mix of physical and sedentary lifestyle with too much sleep still cause a shorter life span, about the same rate as those engaged in smoking and drinking alcohol.
According Melody Ding, lead author on the study and senior research fellow at the Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, told Live Science in an email.that "Physical inactivity alone had a strong association with mortality," And that when people live a lifestyle where they have a mix of physical inactivity with long periods of sleeping periods and prolonged sitting established dramatic unhealthy results.
According to Ding the unhealthy combination increased the risk of death by four times.
"Physical activity is the one factor to address first," Ding said. If these combinations of unhealthy activities lead to higher unhealthy risk and pose more threats than that of having one specific unhealthy activity alone. Elimination of one activity is a more healthy option.
