Shillong, October 25: If you want to lower the risk of death associated with prolonged sitting at work, a mere 20-25 minutes of physical activity, such as cycling, resistance exercises, or gardening, may hold the key, according to research.
As per IANS, the study, available online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, indicates that increased daily physical activity is linked to a reduced risk of death, regardless of the total time spent sitting each day.
Researchers from the University of Tromso in Norway emphasize that a highly sedentary lifestyle increases the risk of mortality. Their study, involving around 12,000 individuals aged 50 and above, revealed that being sedentary for over 12 hours daily was linked to a 38% higher risk of death compared to those who spent eight hours seated each day. However, this was particularly significant for those who engaged in less than 22 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity.
Individuals who participated in more than 22 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity had a lower risk of death.
While a higher amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity reduced the risk of death, regardless of sedentary time, the impact of sedentary time on mortality was mainly influenced by the level of moderate to vigorous physical activity. For instance, an additional 10 minutes of such activity per day was associated with a 15% lower risk of death for those with less than 10.5 sedentary hours and a 35% lower risk for those with more than 10.5 sedentary hours daily.
Light-intensity physical activity only reduced the risk of death among individuals who were highly sedentary (12+ daily hours).
The researchers emphasized that this is an observational study and cannot establish cause and effect. Nevertheless, they pointed out that “Small amounts of MVPA (moderate to vigorous physical activity) may be an effective strategy to ameliorate the mortality risk from high sedentary time, where accumulating more than 22 minutes of MVPA eliminates the risk of high sedentary time. Efforts to promote physical activity may have substantial health benefits for individuals.”