Sitting breaks are good for the heart

Seating breaks are good for the heart: Anyone who inserts interruptions during sitting activities often reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease

11.01.2011

In the western industrialized countries, professional activities are often performed sitting down. It has long been proven that prolonged sedentary activities increase the risk of heart attack and provoke orthopedic conditions such as back pain. What is new is that it is not only the duration of the sessions that is crucial, but also the number of interruptions. For example, scientists have found that regular sit-downs can reduce the risk of illness and also make them leaner.

During the course of the study, researchers led by study leader Genevieve Healy of the Australian University of Queensland in Herston examined around 4,700 participants from the USA. All subjects were at least 20 years old and carried a meter that logged all movements for a total of seven days. In addition, the participants were examined for the cholesterol value, the amount of insulin and the content of the C-reactive protein (an inflammation marker). Finally, the waist circumference of subjects also revealed relative risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Seating interruptions promote the heart and circulation
First, previous study data could be confirmed. The more and the longer a subject spent his or her lifetime in sitting, the higher the disease risk for heart disease. Among the mainly seated participants, the researchers frequently found factors that increase, for example, the heart attack or high blood pressure risk. For example, they usually had a higher waist circumference, low levels of the positive HDL cholesterol, or higher levels of the C-reactive protein. These risk values ​​even applied to those who regularly exercised sports as compensation. However, what astonished the researchers was the fact that participants who regularly got up and moved during their sedentary occupational activity, the risk factors were overall lower. The more participants engaged in a sit-down, the smaller the circumference of the waist, and the lower the inflammatory marker levels of the C-reactive protein. "The top 25 percent of subjects who put in the most seat breaks had an average of 4.1 centimeters lower hip circumference than the bottom 25 percent," said the study director the magazine „European Heart Journal "Therefore, the researcher advises anyone who does sedentary work in the workplace to occasionally get up and move more often, such as making calls or briefing on a standstill instead of calling one's colleagues, one could also personally approach employees At the office, according to Healy's advice, it's important to avoid sitting down as much as possible.

Some people sit up to 22 hours a day
The time all participants spent sitting was very different. Some spent only 1.8 hours of their life sitting, others spent nearly 22 hours a day. The number of breaks from sitting was between 99 and 1258 on all seven days together. The break time was between 99 and 1258 on all seven days combined. However, the researchers were able to show negative consequences on the waist circumference only in non-Hispanic whites. Why this is so must investigate further research.

Sitting a little is healthy
In addition to the well-known recommendation to practice balancing sports at regular intervals, people should sit as little as possible and often get up and move around. According to the scientist, this advice should be included in the health advice in the future. Studies on the biological causes of the observed context are still pending. (Sb)

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Picture: Silke Kaiser