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You know all those teachers and co-workers (and possibly even significant others) who have told you over the years to “please stop fidgeting!”? Turns out, fidgeters might have the last laugh.

According to a new study — Sitting Time, Fidgeting, and All-Cause Mortality in the UK Women’s Cohort Study — published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine: “Fidgeting may reduce the risk of all-cause mortality associated with excessive sitting time.”

The Guardian (UK) reports: “A new study of more than 12,000 UK women suggests that those who claimed to fidget the most were apparently protected against the ravages of being seated. The women who sat still for hours on end were more likely to have died over the course of the study than those whose limbs tapped, wobbled and gently vibrated.”

“The findings suggest that work colleagues who are constantly tapping their feet might be encouraged to carry on rather than urged to stop, and that teachers might want to rethink their advice to similarly lively school children.”

Said one of the authors, Janet Cade, professor of nutritional epidemiology at the University of Leeds: “Those of us who are more fidgety seem to have better long term health outcomes.”

In fact, Tech Times reports that “the study did reveal one unexpected result: the increased mortality risk appears to be counteracted by fidgeting. Even among the women who sat for seven hours or more, their mortality risk didn't show the expected rise if they fidgeted a lot.”

According to the official report, to conduct the study, “data were from the United Kingdom (UK) Women’s Cohort Study. In 1999–2002, a total of 12,778 women (aged 37–78 years) provided data on average daily sitting time, overall fidgeting (irrespective of posture), and a range of relevant covariates including physical activity, diet, smoking status, and alcohol consumption. Participants were followed for mortality over a mean of 12 years. Proportional hazards Cox regression models estimated the relative risk of mortality in high (versus low) and medium (versus low) sitting time groups.”

Indeed, regular readers of this this site know well what one of the study's coauthors, Gareth Hagger-Johnson, a co-author on the study at University College, London, told the Guardian: “Our results support the suggestion that it’s best to avoid sitting still for long periods of time, and even fidgeting may offer enough of a break to make a difference.”