The American Heart Association (AHA) revealed that sedentary people have an increased chance of developing a heart disease condition.
The group mentioned that exercising for 30 minutes a day, unfortunately, doesn’t counter the harmful effects of sitting for 8 hours a day on the job.
Deborah Rohm Young, Ph.D., director of behavioral research at Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena and chair of the new scientific statement suggested that no matter how much physical exercise one gets, it does not impact the destructive effects a sedentary life has on the health of our heart.
Based on the evidence found during the study, U.S adult citizens tend to be sedentary for six to eight hours a day. Unfortunately, it only gets worse with age because adults aged 60 and older spend between 8.5 and 9.6 hours a day in sedentary time.
To lower the risk of heart disease, one must get the recommended 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day but also move more throughout the day.
According to the new studies, sitting impacts more than just the risk of heart disease. A sedentary life with activities such as sitting, watching television, reclining or laying down while awake and reading or working on the computer are linked to an increased risk of diabetes and a higher risk of death from any cause.
The American Heart Association stated that it is not yet clear if the inactivity periods should be replaced with moderate to vigorous physical activities or just simple movement to decrease the risk of heart diseases. Not having enough information about the negative effects of sedentary behavior, specialists believe that there are many studies needed to be done before understanding all the factors involved.
It is still too early to make conclusive recommendations. The best advice given by the American Heart Association is to sit less and move more. We must try to gradually decrease the sedentary amount of time, by 15 minutes per day, the objective being two to three fewer sedentary hours over a 12-hour day.
Another way to minimize sitting is to take one to three-minute breaks for every half of hour. Moreover, giving up our seat on public transportation also helps.
Our smartphones could also assist us if we set alarms every 2 hours or so to remind ourselves to stand up at least every 2 hours for more than a minute at a time.
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