We know that a walk gives us a time to ponder on more important things, or fill our minds with more reasons to love life. A good walk provides some health benefits. We’ve known of this for years already. But researchers have unearthed yet another excellent benefit brought by walking. People who sit longer die earlier, the study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests.
53,440 men and 69,776 women participated in the study about sitting and mortality. For 14 years, all 123,216 participants were followed, from 1993 to 2006. The study found that people were more likely to die of heart disease than cancer. After adjusting a number of risk factors, including body mass index or BMI and smoking, women who spent 6 hours a day sitting had 37 percent increased risk of dying, and men with 17 percent increased risk versus those who spent less than 3 hours sitting.
Factors like exercise showed favorable effect, as it tends to lower the risk of mortality tied to sitting. Nonetheless, the risk remains significantly high even if physical activity is factored in. But without exercise at all, mortality risk climbs to 94 percent on women and 48 for men.
Should you want a reason to get up and walk, this must be it.
If your work requires a lot of sitting, what can you do to reduce the risk? According to the lead author of the study Dr. Alpa Patel, epidemiologist of the American Cancer Society, “the more time you spend sitting, the less total energy expended and you can have consequences such as weight gain and increased obesity." The reason behind is that it affects metabolism and so as the risk factors for various diseases. Meaning, you need to expend as much energy as possible.
Through simple walking, you can make sure your legs are worked out. Why is this necessary? According to Dr. Patel, physical inactivity, especially when the leg muscles are sitting, various hormones are either stimulated or suppressed. As a result, triglycerides, cholesterol and other markers of heart disease and other diseases are affected. Nurses in scrub tops and scrub pants, running around the hospital are won’t have to worry much about such a risk. On the part of other people who sit for long hours at work, walking to the workplace and back should help a lot.
53,440 men and 69,776 women participated in the study about sitting and mortality. For 14 years, all 123,216 participants were followed, from 1993 to 2006. The study found that people were more likely to die of heart disease than cancer. After adjusting a number of risk factors, including body mass index or BMI and smoking, women who spent 6 hours a day sitting had 37 percent increased risk of dying, and men with 17 percent increased risk versus those who spent less than 3 hours sitting.
Factors like exercise showed favorable effect, as it tends to lower the risk of mortality tied to sitting. Nonetheless, the risk remains significantly high even if physical activity is factored in. But without exercise at all, mortality risk climbs to 94 percent on women and 48 for men.
Should you want a reason to get up and walk, this must be it.
If your work requires a lot of sitting, what can you do to reduce the risk? According to the lead author of the study Dr. Alpa Patel, epidemiologist of the American Cancer Society, “the more time you spend sitting, the less total energy expended and you can have consequences such as weight gain and increased obesity." The reason behind is that it affects metabolism and so as the risk factors for various diseases. Meaning, you need to expend as much energy as possible.
Through simple walking, you can make sure your legs are worked out. Why is this necessary? According to Dr. Patel, physical inactivity, especially when the leg muscles are sitting, various hormones are either stimulated or suppressed. As a result, triglycerides, cholesterol and other markers of heart disease and other diseases are affected. Nurses in scrub tops and scrub pants, running around the hospital are won’t have to worry much about such a risk. On the part of other people who sit for long hours at work, walking to the workplace and back should help a lot.
