More Grim News for the Sedentary
A while back, I highlighted a Canadian study that suggested prolonged sitting may have detrimental effects on health. Another study, recently published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, had equally disturbing results. According to a report from LiveScience:
Alpa Patel, a researcher at the American Cancer Society (ACS), and his colleagues analyzed survey responses from 123,216 individuals (53,440 men and 69,776 women) who had no history of cancer, heart attack, strokeor emphysema that were enrolled in the ACS’s Cancer Prevention II study in 1992. Participants were followed from 1993 to 2006.
The researchers examined the participants’ amount of time spent sitting and physical activity in relation to mortality over the 13-year period.
,,,Women who reported more than six hours per day of sitting (outside of work) were 37 percent more likely to die during the time period studied than those who sat fewer than three hours a day. Men who sat more than six hours a day (also outside of work) were 18 percent more likely to die than those who sat fewer than three hours per day. The association remained virtually unchanged after adjusting for physical activity level. Associations were stronger for cardiovascular disease mortality than for cancer mortality.
When combined with a lack of physical activity, the association was even stronger. Women and men who both sat more and were less physically active were 94 percent and 48 percent more likely to die during the study period, respectively, compared with those who reported sitting the least and being most active.
Increasingly, it’s looking like exercise alone isn’t enough. Although regular exercise can help improve quality of life, it appears that the health benefits may be offset if you’re sedentary outside of the gym. Methinks it would be beneficial if we started taking advantage of opportunities to move around more during the day: walking, taking the stairs, etc. While the added calorie burn might not be substantial, you’ll still be doing your body some good.
August 21, 2010
More Grim News for the Sedentary – http://blog.ultimatefatburner.com/2010/0…
August 23, 2010
Gosh, that’s a scary thought. Even if you work out regularly but still sit to much, you have a greater chance of death. I guess that means if you don’t work out and sit to much it really can be bad.
This could be really bad news for my wife and son! I’ll have to work harder to get them off their butts.
August 23, 2010
Yep – I kmow I’ve been making more of an effort lately to do more walking and just moving around in general. I think it’s easy for those of us with gym habits to think of our workouts as sufficient for good health, but perhaps they’re not enough, after all…
Diet, of course, is the wild card here. It may be that a good diet could offset the metabolic effects of being sedentary outside the gym. Tough to say.
Of course, there’s a level at which it makes sense. Human beings certainly didn’t evolve to be sedentary. Our ancestors were often on the move: gathering, lifting, dancing, climbing… they didn’t punctuate their sitting/lying around with concentrated, high-intensity bursts of activity. Thus, it may be that a certain minimum amount of low-moderate intensity activity is good for us, even if it doesn’t burn a huge whack of calories, significantly increase strength or improve VO2max.
August 24, 2010
I’m planning to buy a treadmill, set it up in the basement and build a stand for my laptop. That way I can work while slowly walking – get in a little cardio, burn a few extra calories and perhaps be a little more productive. And maybe live a few more good years.
August 24, 2010
I’ve seen treadmill desks in various catalogs (ex: http://www.treadmilldeskinc.com/treadmilldesks.html?gclid=CJbCya6N0aMCFQL7agodcXWMtg ), but personally, I don’t think I could type and walk at the same time. 😉