The more time you spend sitting, the higher your risk of death, reports the American Journal of Epidemiology.
According to research by the American Cancer Society, the risk of early death is influenced not only by physical activity, but also by how much time is spent sitting. Time spent sitting was found to be associated with mortality, independent of physical activity. According to the authors of the research, as part of a healthy lifestyle, not only physical activity should be promoted, but also limiting the time spent sitting.
The team led by Dr. Alpa Patel analyzed the responses given in 1992 to the surveys by 123 people. 216 people (53 men and 440 women) who had no cancer, heart attack, stroke or lung disease. The level and type of physical activity determined in this way was compared with the mortality rate in the study group in the years 69-776. As it turned out, the more free time a person spent sitting, the more at risk they were – especially in the case of women.
Women who sat for more than six hours a day were at risk of dying by 37%. more than sitting less than three hours a day. In the case of men behaving in the same way, the difference was only eighteen percent.
The relationship was even clearer when considering not total mortality, but mortality from heart disease. When the level of physical activity was also taken into account, the differences were even more pronounced. The least active and sedentary women died the most by 94%. more often than the most active and least likely to sit. In the case of men, it was 48 percent.
According to the authors of the study, the harmfulness of excessive sitting may be explained by the related changes in the levels of triglycerides, high-density lipoproteins, cholesterol and leptin. (PAP)