United States: Our sedentary deskbound jobs – even if we add workouts into our daily routine – may increase our risk of getting heart disease, as per new research.
What exactly is dangerous about sitting a lot, and what constitutes too much sitting has not been well defined, although there is an implicit understanding that it cannot be healthy to be a couch potato, according to Dr. Keith Diaz, an associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center.
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With regard to the matter of sitting, Diaz stated that this study was particularly useful since it had a massive sample size and the method used.
One examination was conducted a week later by having the participants wear an accelerometer, and their sedentary and active time was compared to their later years’ development of conditions such as stroke, heart attack, and heart failure, noted the study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology on Friday.
Not only was more sedentary time linked to increased risk for cardiovascular disease, but the data was also able to inform researchers of a general rule of thumb of what might be deemed as too much sitting per the study, ksl.com reported.
There are some limitations when it comes to the data, for example. It was based on the UK Biobank, a massive biomedical database that conducted ongoing studies of peoples‘ lives over the long term.
The sample was composed majorly of Whites of European origin, which means it didn’t comprise a true population of the United States, Ajufo said.
The study is also observational, which entails, in effect, that while it can find connections, it cannot determine that the sitting was growing the heart disease, she also pointed out.
That would only make sense that sitting too much of the day would take a toll, however, Diaz said.