The researchers believe that TV watching rather than just sitting down produced different results because of the dietary habits associated with TV watching, such as snacking or having a meal, which could affect people’s metabolism.
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Only about a quarter of the people included in the study did an hour or more of exercise per day.
“You can split it up over the day but you need to do at least one hour”.
The hour a day recommended by the research team is significantly more than World Health Organization guidelines, which state that adults should do at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week.
The study also found that watching TV for three hours or more a day was linked with an increased risk of early death, regardless of physical activity – except among those who were the most physically active.
Walking for 60 minutes a day cancels out eight hours sat at a desk, a study reveals.
Those at greatest risk of premature death were the people who sat for long periods of time and were inactive. The findings show a risk reduction or even elimination for your risk of death from heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.
“We found that at least one hour of physical activity per day eliminates the association between sitting time and death”, said Ulf Ekelund, at the University of Cambridge.
He told the BBC that he could not “stress enough the importance of getting exercise” for those who sit down during their commute and have office-based jobs.
He added: “Take a five minute break every hour, go to the next office, go upstairs to the coffee machine, go to the printer”.
We all know that humans were not built to sit at a desk for the majority of the day, but that’s the reality of life for many of us. “In addition, physical inactivity related deaths contribute to $13·7 billion in productivity losses, and physical inactivity was responsible for 13·4 million “disability-adjusted life-years” worldwide”.
Dr Mike Loosemore, from the English Institute of Sport, said: “An hour of brisk walking is hard work this is essentially moderate exercise, I suspect not many people would be able to manage that amount of moderate activity a day”. But even that exercise regime was not enough to counter the hazards of also watching more than five hours of television a day. Lower- and middle-income countries shared 75 percent of the disease burden but less than 20 percent of the economic burden, said Melody Ding, lead author of the study and a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney’s school of public health.
It’s been deemed one of the 10 leading risk factors for death, but it turns out that physical inactivity also comes with a hefty tab-$67.5 billion, to be exact.
The good news is you don’t have to be sprinting or pouring sweat at the gym. But capacity and funding remains insufficient because physical activity is not taken seriously enough to rise to the top of the funding priorities, ” the pair stated.
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National Heart Foundation Spokesperson for Physical Activity Trevor Shilton says Australians could partake in activity even while supporting our green and gold heroes from their homes during the Rio Olympic Games. “Science and practice are providing important evidence, but now is the time for action”, says Prof.
