May 04, 2015 08:50 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Engaging in low intensity exercises or physical activities such as standing may not be enough to offset the health hazards of sitting for long periods of time, according to a recent study.

Although Researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine found that adding two minutes of walking each hour to your routine just might do the trick.

Numerous studies have shown that sitting for extended periods of time each day leads to increased risk for early death, as well as heart disease, diabetes and other health conditions. Considering that 80 percent of Americans fall short of completing the recommended amount of exercise, 2.5 hours of moderate activity each week, it seems unrealistic to expect that people will replace sitting with even more exercise.

For the study, researchers examined more than  3,000 people who wore accelerometers that objectively measured the intensities of their activities. Participants were followed for three years after the data were collected; there were 137 deaths during this period.

They found that there is no benefit to decreasing sitting by two minutes each hour, and adding a corresponding two minutes more of low intensity activities. However, a "trade-off" of sitting for light intensity activities for two minutes each hour was associated with a 33 percent lower risk of dying.

"It was fascinating to see the results because the current national focus is on moderate or vigorous activity. To see that light activity had an association with lower mortality is intriguing," Srinivasan Beddhu, lead author of the study, said in a statement.

Beddhu explains that while it's obvious that it takes energy to exercise, strolling and other light activities use energy, too. Even short walks add up to a lot when repeated many times over the course of a week.

"Exercise is great, but the reality is that the practical amount of vigorous exercise that can be achieved is limited. Our study suggests that even small changes can have a big impact," Tom Greene, senior author of the study, said in a statement.

The findings are detailed in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

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