It’s time to take notice if you’re the kind of person who prefers to use your couch during work breaks rather than your office chair. Even if you’re meeting your daily activity goals, a recent study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology indicates that excessive sitting may be harmful to your heart health. An important topic in the discussion of cardiovascular health has been brought to light by researchers at Mass General Brigham who have discovered a concerning association between sedentary behavior and an elevated risk of common heart illnesses.
Despite what some gym-goers may think, using the treadmill does not grant you permission to relax for the remainder of the day. The study found that there are dangers associated with sedentary behavior, which is defined as low energy expenditure activities while sitting, reclining, or lying down during waking hours. Ezimamaka Ajufo, a cardiology fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, actually told the Harvard Gazette that sedentary risk persisted even among physically active people. This is significant because many of us sit a lot and believe that we can make up for it by exercising at the end of the day. This highlights the fact that regular movement throughout the day can be just as important as the amount of time spent working out.
Activity-tracker data from 89,530 participants, provided by the U.K. Biobank prospective cohort, served as the basis for the study’s conclusions. According to the data, sitting for more than 10.6 hours a day is associated with a glaring 40–60% increased risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death. The research suggests that atrial fibrillation, heart attacks, heart failure, and death from heart-related reasons are the four frequent cardiovascular disorders, so we’re not only talking about heart attacks here. The risks of prolonged sitting were present even in those who fulfilled the recommended weekly allowance of 150 minutes of moderate-to-intense physical exercise.
What does that mean for our desk-bound lifestyle, then? Co-senior author Shaan Khurshid, an electrophysiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, is part of the research team, which believes their work will help shape future public health policies and standards. “Our data supports the idea that it is always better to sit less and move more to reduce heart disease risk, and that avoiding excessive sitting is especially important for lowering risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death,” Khurshid said. According to the Harvard Gazette, incorporating these discoveries into our daily routine could be an effective preventative tool, as cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of mortality worldwide.
Beyond the current public health guidelines, this study’s consequences force us to assess the quality as well as the number of our everyday activities. The study’s comprehensive methodology was emphasized by cardiologist Patrick Ellinor, co-director of the Corrigan Minehan Heart Center at Massachusetts General Hospital: While exercise is essential, avoiding too much sitting seems to be equally crucial. According to the Harvard Gazette, knowing how our sitting habits affect heart health could revolutionize disease prevention and management in a time when remote work and sedentary lifestyles are becoming more and more widespread.
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