One hour of walking counters 8 hours of sitting
One hour of walking counters 8 hours of sitting or sedentary activity, according to a new study from an international research team.
Sedentary lifestyle is a serious risk factor for many diseases and early death. Scientists estimate that over 5 million people die each year due to lack of physical activity.
Recent studies suggest that adults spend most of their time sitting down. Driving to work, sitting at a desk, driving back home, and watching television is a typical day for most people, which doesn’t leave much room for exercise.
The researchers wanted to find out if a person is active enough, can the negative effects of all this sitting be reduced?
The team found the following:
“There has been a lot of concern about the health risks associated with today’s more sedentary lifestyles,” says Professor Ulf Ekelund from the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge. “Our message is a positive one: it is possible to reduce — or even eliminate — these risks if we are active enough, even without having to take up sports or go to the gym.”
“For many people who commute to work and have office-based jobs, there is no way to escape sitting for prolonged periods of time. For these people in particular, we cannot stress enough the importance of getting exercise, whether it’s getting out for a walk at lunchtime, going for a run in the morning or cycling to work. An hour of physical activity per day is the ideal, but if this is unmanageable, then at least doing some exercise each day can help reduce the risk.”
The study showing that one hour of walking counters 8 hours of sitting was published in The Lancet.
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REFERENCES:
1. “An Hour of Moderate Exercise a Day Enough to Counter Health Risks from Prolonged Sitting.” University of Cambridge. University of Cambridge, n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.
2. “Does Physical Activity Attenuate, or Even Eliminate, the Detrimental Association of Sitting Time with Mortality? A Harmonised Meta-analysis of Data from More than 1 Million Men and Women.” The Lancet. The Lancet, n.d. Web. 3 Aug. 2016.
