Tagged with: exercise health Physical Activity research
A new study has proposed a link between the amount of time a person spends sitting, and death. While most of us have heard that a lack of physical activity has been shown to contribute to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity; we did not know that the discussion has ranged as far as linking simply sitting to early death.
The American Cancer Society researchers believe that the amount of physical activity a person gets has been shown to promote health, along with healthy eating and physically active lifestyles. But they would like to take the issue further and have concluded that public health messages should promote healthy eating, being physically active and also recommend reducing the amount of time spent sitting.
In a wellness study conducted between 1993 and 2006 of 123,216 persons who had no history of cancer, heart attack, stroke or emphysema or other lung disearse it was noted that more leisure time spent sitting was associated with higher risk of mortality, particularly among women.
Women who reported sitting more than six hours per day were 37% more likely to die during the time period studied than were those who sat 3 or fewer hours per day. Men who sat more than 6 hours per day were 18% more likely to die than those who sat fewer than 3 hours per day. The asociation between sitting and death were unchanged, even when levels of physical activity were considered.
Since a sizable portion of the nation spends many hours a day sitting it was recommended by the American Cancer Society researchers that people should remember to stand up and walk around often, as well as take part in vigorous physical activity during some portion of the day, and eating well to keep fit.
Article: “Leisure Time Spent Sitting In Relation to Total Mortality in Prospective Cohort of US Adults”. Alpha V. Patel, Leslie Bernstein, Anusila Deka, Hether Spencer Feigelson, Peter T. Campbell, Susan Gapstur, Graham Colditz and Michael Thun. American Journal of Edidemilogy. Published nline July 22, 2010
