Saed News: When you sit for long periods, physical changes begin to occur in your body. According to research, prolonged sitting increases the risk of chronic health problems such as diabetes, spinal issues, digestive and rectal diseases, heart disease, and certain cancers. It can also be harmful to your mental health.
Saed News Family Magazine Service, quoting from ScienceAlert:
We know that sitting for long periods is harmful to us, but a new study adds important details: if you sit or lie down for more than 10.5 hours a day, regular exercise may not be enough to prevent the increased risk of serious heart problems. This enhances our understanding of the struggle between the risks of physical inactivity and activities that might protect us from these health consequences.The study, conducted by a team from MIT and Harvard, suggests that guidelines should be introduced regarding the maximum amount of time people can sit, as well as the minimum time they should dedicate to exercise. Shan Khorshid, one of the researchers, says: "Our findings highlight the need to reduce sedentary time to lower cardiovascular risks. 10.6 hours a day is a key threshold related to increased heart failure and mortality from heart disease."
Previous studies have discussed the concept of "compensation" for prolonged sitting through exercise; however, physical activity may not fully address all the health problems caused by excessive sitting. Of course, this doesn’t mean that exercise is not important— we've seen time and time again that even small increases in activity can improve health—but it is also important to pay attention to how much we sit. The researchers suggest: "Avoiding more than 10.6 hours a day may be a realistic minimum goal for improving heart health." This research has been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
For people who sit a lot, such as those who need to remain seated for long periods during travel or employees and computer users, it is recommended to avoid sitting too long. Every hour, they should stand up for a few minutes and walk around or perform some light stretching or exercises to help maintain their health.
Aside from those who enjoy lounging and spending hours in front of the TV without moving, there are others who have no choice but to sit and work. For these individuals, a solution exists: they should plan to stand up every 1-2 hours and walk for 2-5 minutes. Those who read or watch TV can use different methods to avoid staying stationary— for example, while reading or watching TV, they can lie on their back and cycle for 5 minutes or engage in other movement methods they know.
A cardiovascular specialist points out an important note: "We should remember that walking cannot and should not replace daily exercise and movement. These walks are an immediate solution to break up long periods of sitting, but every person should aim for 3.5 hours of physical activity per week, which equals 30 minutes a day."
