There are numerous risks of a sedentary lifestyle. From desk jobs on weekdays to scrolling reels during weekends, in today’s digital era, people spend a lot of time sitting or lying down, making them more vulnerable to chronic ailments. According to new research, sitting for prolonged hours could significantly raise the risk of heart disease.
This is even after exercising during free time. Let’s take a closer look. The study examined data from 90,000 individuals who wore accelerometers for a week and compared their active and inactive times to later diagnoses of heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure.
The results were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology . The data was taken from the UK Biobank, a sizable scientific research database that primarily contains White people with European ancestry. The results show a strong correlation between prolonged sitting and a higher risk of heart disease.
“Our findings highlight the importance of minimising prolonged sitting, regardless of your level of physical activity,” Dr Ezim Ajufo, the study’s lead author and a cardiology fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said. According to CNN , Dr Keith Diaz, an associate professor of behavioural medicine at Columbia University Medical Centre, who was not involved in the study, said that although it is commonly known that excessive sitting can have a negative impact on health, more research is required to identify the precise risks and guidel.