The worst condition to be in, it appears, is that of the archetypal couch potato. A notch above this is a little walking and stranding, and more physical forms of aerobic exercise are better still. This is the finding of anew medical study.
The research, from the University of California – San Diego, comes in the form of two studies. Both studies examine the negative health effects that are connected with sedentary lifestyles. The first study is based on the premise that even a little exercise can help to maintain better health.
Data was drawn from the observed activity levels of some 6,000 women, aged between 63 to 97. The data was collected in partnership with the U.S. Women’s Health Initiative.
This analysis showed that women who spent more time standing than the average had a 37 percent lower risk of death. This was based on standing for a minimum of 30 minutes per day, with maximum health effect seen from those who stood for up to 90 minutes per day.
The study is published in the Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, with the paper titled “The Relationship of Accelerometer-Assessed Standing Time With and Without Ambulation and Mortality: The WHI OPACH Study.”
The second study takes in the lifestyle of many U.S. citizens and based on an assessment of health metrics, finds that, perhaps unsurprisingly, that too many people are simply are sitting too much.
The research for this study was drawn amassed physical activity data collected from both a survey of farmers in rural Malawi and people in the U.S. The people from Malawi were less impacted by technology compared with the lifestyles of Americans, where technology has made things easier but it also has, arguably, made people lazier.
The second study can be found in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, under the title “Physical activity and sedentary time in a rural adult population in Malawi compared with an age-matched US urban population.”
Both elements of the research have a serious side since data suggests that over 5 million people globally die from causes associated with a marked lack of physical activity.
One of the main researchers, Professor James Sallis states, in light of the findings: “As humans, we are designed to be active, and now we know how much our health depends on it.”
This means, the scientist adds that “for people in most high-income countries, we need to put a higher priority on efforts to help them get out of their chairs and move around more throughout the day. For highly-active people in low-income countries, food security is a higher priority.”
For those readers in the U.S., the ongoing Sedentary Time and Aging Research program is currently recruiting participants. For more information, see: riseforhealth.ucsd.edu
