November 14, 2023 – Adults are so sedentary that replacing just a few moments of sitting with some sort of activity, including sleeping and standing, can improve cardiovascular health.
This emerges from recent research results European Heart Journal conducted by the University of College London and the University of Sydney.
Researchers have found that adults are sedentary for a mean of 9½ hours a day.
They examined six studies involving 15,000 people from five countries. Participants used trackers to measure activity and heart health on a typical day.
People who participated in additional demanding activities generally saw higher heart health. And even standing and sleeping brought improvements.
“When participants swapped sitting for just five minutes of moderate to vigorous activity, there were noticeable positive effects on their heart health.” Fox News reported.
A 54-year-old woman exercised for half-hour as a substitute of sitting, the study says. She had a 2.4% decrease in body mass index, a 2.7% decrease in waist circumference, and a 3.6% decrease in blood sugar levels.
“We hope this data will reach a broad population and influence behavior,” Matthew Saybolt, MD, medical director of the Structural Heart Disease Program at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center, told Fox. He was not involved within the investigation.
“As cardiologists, we know that regular physical activity has positive effects on blood pressure, glucose/sugar levels, body fat, cholesterol, sleep patterns and mood compared to a sedentary lifestyle,” Saybolt said. “All of these things are closely related to the cardiovascular system. We encourage all of our stable patients to have at least light to moderate exercise and activity daily.”