We know that sitting for long periods of time is bad for your health, but how much exercise do you need to counteract the negative health effects of sitting all day?
Research suggests that sweating for about 30 to 40 minutes per day can have benefits.
The study found that up to 40 minutes of “moderate-to-vigorous activity” each day is about right to balance out 10 hours of sitting still, but that any amount of exercise, or even just getting up, will have some benefit.
it is, Meta-analysis The study, published in 2020, analyzed nine previous studies involving a total of 44,370 people across four countries who wore some type of fitness tracker.
The analysis found that the risk of death increases for people living a sedentary lifestyle as the time spent doing moderate-to-vigorous activity decreases.
“For active individuals who engage in 30-40 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, the association between length of sitting time and risk of mortality is not significantly different from that of individuals who sit for less time,” the researchers explain in their paper. paper.
In other words, moderate-intensity exercise such as cycling, brisk walking or gardening can reduce your risk of premature death to the same level as a non-sedentary lifestyle, and this association is evident across the pool of data from thousands of people.
While such meta-analyses always require detailed connecting the dots between individual studies with different volunteers, time periods and conditions, the advantage of this particular study is that it relied on relatively objective data from a wearable rather than participant self-reported data.
At the time, this study World Health Organization 2020 Global Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary BehaviorIt was compiled by 40 scientists across six continents. British Journal of Sports Medicine (BHSM) Special Edition Implementing both the study and the revised guidelines.
“As these guidelines emphasize, all physical activity is important and any amount is better than none at all.” said Emmanuel Stamatakis, a physical activity and population health researcher at the University of Sydney in Australia.
“People can still protect their health and offset the harmful effects of physical inactivity.”
The fitness tracker-based study is broadly in line with 2020 WHO guidelines that recommend 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity activity, or 75-150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, each week to counter sedentary behavior.
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator, playing with children or pets, taking part in yoga or dance, doing household chores, walking or cycling are all suggested ways for people to become more active. If you can’t commit to 30 to 40 minutes right away, researchers say it’s best to start small.
While it’s difficult to make recommendations that apply to all ages and body types, the 40-minute activity window is consistent with past research, and as more data becomes available, we should be able to learn more about how to stay healthy even if you have to sit at a desk for long periods of time.
“While the new guidelines reflect the best available science, there are still some gaps in our knowledge.” Stamatakis said:.
“For example, it’s not yet clear what exactly the threshold for ‘sitting too much’ is, but this is a rapidly evolving area of research and we hope to have an answer in the next few years.”
This study was published hereThe 2020 guidelines are now available here,of British Journal of Sports MedicineFor more details Available here.
An earlier version of this article was published in November 2020.
