We know: if it already happened in your days as ‘Godín’ in the office, now with el home office which continues in some cases, the number of hours we spend sitting while working increased.
Why might that be a problem? Studies that analyze the relationship between sedentary lifestyle and mortality found that those people who remain seated continuously for hours are more likely to develop chronic diseases (from diabetes, dementia to different types of cancer or heart conditions) than those who keep moving during the day.
In another demonstration of the dangers of sitting still, a study followed and analyzed the behavior patterns of nearly 8,000 Americans age 45 and olderwho wore an ‘accelerometer’ strapped to their hip during the time of the exercise.
The study, which began in 2017, revealed that following 4 years, 340 of the participants had died.
“Longer sedentary time and longer sedentary period duration were associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality,” he said.
What to do to reduce these risks?
In a study published this month by specialists in the US, a group of 11 people were asked to ‘reproduce’ different work scenarios such as:
- One day, they sat for 8 hours cwith short breaks to go to the bathroom.
- In another, participants walked for a minute every half hour.
- Another option included walking through five minutes, but every hour.
During the exercise, the experts were analyzing changes in variables such as blood sugar level and pressure.
Which strategy was the best results?
The five minute walk but every half hour. Keith Diaza professor of Behavioral Medicine at Columbia University, explained that this routine reduced the spike in blood sugar following meals in 60 percent.
“Our study focused primarily on taking regular walking breaks at a light intensity. Some of the strategies, such as brisk walking for one minute every hour, did not lower blood sugar levels. We do not know if a more rigorous hike would have provided health benefits at these doses,” he added.
With information from The Conversation
