Sitting is often touted as ‘the new smoking’, but it is unclear if it is the sitting itself or the lack of physical activity that causes the harm.
Sitting is often touted as ‘the new smoking’, but it is unclear if it is the sitting itself or the lack of physical activity that causes the harm. It has also been unclear what level of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity – routine activities like walking briskly to work, as well as sport and exercises – might offset this risk.
New research has examined the associations of sitting and physical activitiy with premature death and cardiovascular disease mortality, and estimated what level of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity might offset health risks of sitting.
The researchers statistically modelled physical activity and sitting against death records of nearly 150,000 study participants aged 45 years and over and followed up over almost nine years.
The study’s key message is that physical activity is particularly important for people who sit a lot. Reducing sitting would be a good start but is not enough: the most important lifestyle change for such people would be to look for or create opportunities to move more daily.
Read more at University of Sydney
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