The greatest risk of early death was for those individuals who were physically inactive, regardless of the amount of time sitting – they were between 28% and 59% more likely to die early compared with those who were in the most active quartile – a similar risk to that associated with smoking and obesity.
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At least an hour of physical activity a day may be required to offset the harmful effects of sitting at a desk for eight hours, according to the latest study to highlight the perils of a sedentary lifestyle. “Our message is a positive one: It is possible to reduce – or even eliminate – these risks if we are active enough”. “Build physical activity in your everyday life”.
However, the study from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, which looked at over one million people, said one hour of exercise such as a brisk walk or cycling for pleasure may eliminate the increased risk of death associated with prolonged sitting.
The plan involves supporting more community walking groups, getting doctors to prescribe exercise for patients and encouraging employers to bring in standing desks to avoid staff having to sit all day.
But the increased risk of death associated with sitting down for too long was completely eliminated by a minimum of one hour’s moderate activity a day.
The paper was the first to estimate the monetary cost of the global “pandemic” of inactivity, and was part of a special series timed for release ahead of the August 5 opening of the Rio Olympic Games. Then they contacted the original authors and asked them all to reanalyze their data using the same parameters.
“People who sat for eight hours a day but were physically active had a much lower risk of death than those who sat for fewer hours, but were not physically active”, Professor Brown said. “You can split it up over the day, but you need to do at least one hour”. There have been a lot of hysterical headlines in recent years about how watching too much TV is totally going to kill you.
There’s some grounds for the concerns.
The study also found that more than three hours of this sedentary behaviour was associated with an increased risk of death from chronic disease in all activity groups, except the most active. Just this week, yet another study appeared warning about the dangers of excessive binge-watching-this time showing an increased risk of dying from a blood clot in the lungs among the Japanese subjects. He attributes the difference to what he calls “residual confounding”-that is, other factors are likely influencing the outcome of the analysis”.
Based on data from 142 countries, representing 93.2 per cent of the world’s population, the researchers conservatively estimated that in 2013 the effect of physical inactivity on these diseases and all-cause mortality cost the world economy more than INT$67.5 billion. Some people might have a more unhealthy lifestyle overall, or perhaps we snack or drink more while watching TV, all of which could adversely impact our health.
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Most of us will spend hours on the couch watching the world’s fittest athletes during TV coverage of the Olympics, which begin in Brazil next week. The general rule of thumb, as Ekelund succinctly advised: “Sit less and move more, and the more the better”.
