Don't just take it sitting down!

In a lounge lizard special, JAMES MOORE looks at what long sofa sessions do to our bodies, the evidence and ways to cushion the impact!

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IT’S summer, but millions of us are slumped inside on our sofas watching Euro 2025, Wimbledon or shows like Love Island.

In fact, we will spend around 10 years of our lives sitting on the settee. So could your couch be killing you?

How dangerous is the sofa? Boffins at the University of Iowa found that a sedentary lifestyle could increase the risk of 19 different chronic conditions from obesity to depression and heart problems.

A US study identified that for every hour each day spent watching TV on the sofa, the risk of suffering a stroke increases by 14%.

Other research, from the Netherlands, has found that every extra hour sitting down heightens the chance of developing diabetes by a fifth.

Try a health programme specifically designed to get sofa lovers moving, like the NHS's Couch To 5k. A whopping 8.7million of the runs were completed in 2024.

Can watching sport help? Yes. When we watch sport we tend to be animated and move around more. This could help burn some serious calories.