WASHINGTON (CNN) – You may want to stand up for this story.

In a new study, researchers followed a national representative population of 8,000 individuals older than 45 for an average of four years.

Their results showed that sitting for long periods of time can lead to an earlier death. That’s regardless of how much a person exercises. It also accounted for multiple variables – such as age, race, and sex.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Keith Diaz says the most surprising finding was sitting for more than 60 to 90 consecutive minutes increased the risk of death.

Dr. Diaz said to reduce the harmful consequences of sitting, one needs to decrease the overall time spent sitting and take frequent movement breaks.

The study was published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.