Staying couch bound for 5 continuous days can harm your health

Being couch bound and inactive for five days in a row can be harmful for your health, claims a new study.

According to the researchers, a body needs physical activity like taking at least 10,000 steps per day and Paul Fadel, associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, found that being idle for even a few days causes damage to blood vessels, which takes time to fix, the Daily Express reported.

He added that it results in weight gain and insulin resistance, which leads to Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Low physical activity is considered to be fewer than 5,000 steps a day, which is half the recommended amount for good health.

Researchers said that counting steps and daily physical activity was not a "defined exercise", like going to the gym.

However, Fadel said "negative consequences could be reversed and there was proof to indicate that at any stage of a disease and at any time in a person's life, they could get active and prolong their life.