Cutting your risk of sitting yourself to an early death

Brilliant research just in from the British Journal of sports medicine

They did a review of previous studies with a combined sample size of around 44,000 people and looked at the risk of sitting causing an early death and how much ( or actually little ) exercise is needed to combat this effect.

Hard to find data from Japan but Americans spend on average 55% of their day sitting or 7.7 hours sitting ( 2) and we are starting to learn that this is associated with shorter lifespan, increased risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes. This result was not linear either. In other words your risk increases greatly once you go past the 8 hour mark. Even a few extra hours rapidly increases your risk.

 

So that’s not really new news.

What makes this study interesting is they examined just how much exercise you need to do mediate the damaging effects of sitting.

And it’s not much !

Just about 30-40 minutes a day was the amount needed to mitigate the increased risk caused by sitting but even as little as 11 minutes a day still was found to significantly helpful and reduced the risk of all but the most prolonged sitting.  Previous studies on this topic concluded that at least an hour a day was needed but this new better designed study actually reduces the amount needed.

The new guidelines from the UK, the USA and WHO recommend that adults should participate in physical activity for 150–300 minutes of at least moderate intensity every week (1)

Even better news is that there seems to be no difference if you break this up. So if you don’t have time for a 40 minute walk break it up into 2 2o minute walks. Even if the smallest things can really help. Always try and take the stairs instead of the elevator.

This is not say you should exercise less of course. There are still many other benefits to more than 40 minutes such as weight loss, improvement in mood and better sleep as well.

So get out there and get moving !

If you would like to make an appointment with an english speaking Japanese registered Chiropractor in Sunabe Okinawa or Niseko Japan please go to

www.nisekochiropractic.com/appointments

References

1.https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/24/1499

 

2.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-018-0380-1