Leading a sedentary lifestyle can have several adverse effects on our health and overall wellbeing. It leads to increased all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, cancer risk, and risks of metabolic disorders, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, according to a study published in the Korean Journal of Family Medicine.
Therefore, for those of you who spend most of your time sitting, for work or leisure purposes, it is advisable to find time to exercise too. This does not mean sweating out for long hours. Instead, less than half an hour of exercise can do the trick, as per a new research.
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Study Details
The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, involved almost 12,000 people aged 50 or above between 2003 and 2019. The participants wore an activity tracking device for a minimum of four days, at least 10 hours per day, and were monitored for at least two years.
Of the total participants, 5,943 people spent fewer than 10.5 hours sitting everyday, while 6,042 people sat for 10.5 hours or more everyday.
When the researchers linked the data with the death registries, it was found that during an average period of five years, 7% of people (805 participants) had died, of which, 6% or 357 spent under 10.5 hours sitting everyday, and 448 sat for 10.5 hours or more daily.
Prolonged Sitting Associated With 38% Increased Risk Of Death
The study authors found that more than 12 hours of sitting in a day was associated with 38% increased risk of death as compared to eight hours, which could be lowered if the individuals managed to get less than 22 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day.
Furthermore, an extra 10 minutes of exercise a day slashed the risk of death by 15% among those who spent fewer than 10 ½ hours seated and a 35% lower risk among those who spent more than 10 ½ hours sitting each day.
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Although 20-25 minutes of exercise a day was said to reduce the risk of early death in people who sit for long hours, the lead author of the study Edvard Sagelv, a researcher at The Arctic University of Norway recommends 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous activity. He says, "it is enough to counteract the detrimental health effect of prolonged sitting," adding, “This is the beautiful part: we are talking about activities that make you breathe a little bit heavier, like brisk walking, or gardening or walking up a hill.”
Study Limitations
The study authors also laid down the limitations of the study, which included lack of repeated measurements of physical activity and hours spent sitting, exclusion of participants' diet and general health status, and the inability of the activity trackers to identify the type of activities being done by the participants.
All in all, the researchers concluded that even brief amounts of moderate to physical activity every day can lower risks of death associated with sitting too much.
