Parnad Basu, Amity University Kolkata
Doctors have been saying for a very long time that there is no substitution to exercise if you want to live a healthy life. Often than not we have seen that those who don’t ‘move’ from a place for a very long time are prone to diseases like a heart attack which may cause even death. In a recent study done by scientists, a clear link between being sedentary and having major heart attacks (where the patient has to be hospitalized) is very much prominent.
In this particular study, almost 81000 postmenopausal women (average age of 63 years) participated. These women were then divided into three groups based on how long they stay sedentary. After a long follow-up of about 9 years, it was seen that the longer they stayed sedentary (on an average), the more prone they were to be hospitalized. In terms of numbers, women who were reported to stay sedentary (either sitting or lying) for more than 9.5 hours daily were 42% more likely to be hospitalized due to heart attack compared to those who spend 6.5 hours a day sedentary.
Not only that, doing nothing or not moving enough, can cause severe health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure in addition to a heart attack. However, the solution to this issue is extraordinarily simple. Move a little after sitting for a while, stand up, do some freehand exercises if possible! In this day and age, we don’t need to move a lot. This change in our lifestyle is making things worse. Even though the study was conducted on postmenopausal women, it is not very different for other age groups or sexes. Since this study doesn’t establish a cause and effect relationship, further studies are to be done.
Also read: Cocoa flavanols boost cognitive functioning at more challenging tasks!
Reference:
Association of Sedentary Time and Incident Heart Failure Hospitalization in Postmenopausal Women Michael J. LaMonte et al. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.120.007508
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