You may be doing the recommended 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise every week but that’s not enough to neutralise the damage done by sitting long hours at work. A new study suggests that sitting for 10.6 hours or more a day is significantly linked to future heart failure and cardiovascular death risk regardless of exercise.
Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the study used data from almost 90,000 study participants with an average age of 62 from the UK Biobank. After a follow-up of a median of eight years, about 5 per cent of study participants developed atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeats in the upper chambers of the heart), about 2.1 per cent developed heart failure, almost 2 per cent had a heart attack, and a little less than 1 per cent died from cardiovascular-related causes.
WHY IS THIS STUDY SIGNIFICANT?
First, it shows how stubborn and long-term the side effects of sedentary behaviour on cardiovascular health really are. Second, it shows that the recommended hours of exercise need to be complemented by other kinds of movement and more intra-activity breaks.
Other studies have also shown that people who sit for long periods of time without a great amount of mobility, especially couch potatoes, have a much higher incidence of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. And in obese people, sitting for long periods of time or especially sitting cross-legged for long periods of time can increase the chances of venous thrombosis and also varicose veins.
The muscles maintain their tone and function when standing, walking or erect. Sitting will relax these muscles and prolonged sitting will lead to reduction in metabolism and muscle wastage. This alters the internal milieu of the body and leads to muscle loss and fat gain.
Standing work desks are also of little use if you remain stationary at one position for a long time.
HOW TO TAKE ACTIVITY BREAKS AT WORK
With the help of your smartphone alarm, take a break every 30 minutes or an hour. During your breaks, stand up, stretch and walk around. You can do some squats against a wall in the corridors.
Always walk with your colleagues for meetings on the terrace or outdoors than sitting again in a conference room. Similarly, you can share and have meals far away from your workstations, may be go to the cafeteria. Take the stairs and avoid lifts. Walk to your parking bay if self-driving your car instead of calling the valet to get your car.
Drink enough water and get those measuring bottles. This way you will require pee breaks, get off your seat and even avoid dehydration.
Team-building can be sporty pursuits like weekly runs or cycling at the park. The idea is to simply get moving.
(Dr Menon is Consultant, Cardiac Sciences, Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital, Mumbai)
