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Exercise 30 Minutes to Counteract Inactivity: Heart Experts

“Be conscious of how much time you’re spending sitting”, says Young.

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The problem only gets worse with age. In the case of adults aged 60 and above, they spend between 8.5 to 9 hours on daily basis in sedentary position. Even physically active people who spend a lot of their time being sedentary appear to have increased risk, the researchers said.

The current AHA recommendation is that adults should get 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity each week. In order to accomplish it, people should do at least 30 minutes of physical workout.

The main issue, Young and her team of experts assert is that It is not clearly understood whether people should replace prolonged sedentary time with moderate to vigorous exercise or simple movement.

Take a one- to three-minute break every half-hour during the day to stand (which burns twice as many calories as sitting) or walk around.

Gradually reduce daily sitting time by 15 to 20 minutes per day, aiming for two to three fewer sedentary hours over a 12-hour day. They also say that you shouldn’t see exercising 30 minutes a day as a hard, challenging task as it can be accomplished quite easy, by turning a leisure walk into a more rapid one.

Deborah Rohm Young, Ph.D., director of behavioral research at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, in Pasadena, published a science advisory to alert people that doing exercise will not counteract the effects of sedentary behaviors.

Other studies tie increasing sedentary time to earlier death, the committee writes.

On Long Island, Dr. Barbara George, who directs the Center for Cardiovascular Lifestyle Medicine at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, said the average workplace and many pursuits at home often involve hours spent being sedentary.

Although the AHA is pointing to sedentary lifestyles as being something that needs to be addresses, according to Reuters, they are taking into account the many reasons why a person might be sedentary.

The research is part of a growing body of scientific investigation into whether sitting is “the new smoking” in terms of health risks, and whether sedentary behaviors escalate the potential for a variety of medical conditions.

Living a sedentary life can be a potentially independent risk factor for heart disease and stroke, warns a study, suggesting to “sit less and move more”. Several studies also show a link between sedentary time and heart disease. The types of studies available identify trends but don’t prove cause and effect.

“We don’t have information about how much sedentary behaviour is bad for health – the best advice at this time is to “sit less and move more”, Young said.

Aside from sitting, sedentary behavior also includes watching television, using the computer or reading.

The committee defined sedentary behavior as “any waking behavior characterized by an energy expenditure ≤1.5 metabolic equivalents while in a sitting or reclining posture”.

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“Based on existing evidence, we found that USA adults are sedentary for about six to eight hours a day”, said Deborah Rohm Young, chair of the AHA panel that wrote the new advisory.

Once-a-day exercise doesn't counter damage from sitting