Study sitting and TV shorten life

Sit-down activities shorten life expectancy

07/10/2012

Long sitting and watching TV can reduce life expectancy. US researchers found that extensive sitting activities shorten their lifetime by about two years on average. Based on the data of the „National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey“ (NHANES), researchers led by Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University and I-Min Lee of Harvard Medical School, Boston, have examined the relationship between lifespan and sedentary activities. They registered clear negative effects of sitting and television on life expectancy.

Relationship between the sitting times and the lifespan
The NHANES data enabled researchers to record in detail the amount of time spent sitting or watching TV. In addition, Katzmarzyk and Lee consider in their meta-study the results of five earlier studies with a total of 167,000 subjects. The older studies also looked at possible relationships between sitting times and different causes of death. Like the US scientists in the „British Medical Journal“ report, show the „Results from her study found that limiting sitting times to less than three hours a day and limiting TV viewing to less than two hours a day increased life expectancy at birth in the US by approximately 2.0 and 1.4 years, respectively. “ Always under the assumption of a causal relationship that has not yet been scientifically proven. „Our analysis assumes that there is a causal relationship between sedentary activities and mortality“ But this has yet to be proven in further research, Katzmarzyk and Lee report.

Sitting reduces life expectancy more than obesity
According to the researchers, the negative impact of prolonged sitting and watching television is particularly apparent when compared to other health risk factors. „For example, obesity is estimated to increase life expectancy at birth in the US by 0.30 to 1.08 years “ and smoking is associated with up to 2.5 years lower life expectancy, the US researchers report on the results of previous studies. Thus, the negative effects of physical inactivity or long-term sitting and television on the lifetime are quite as serious as in the well-known risk factors. This also applies to chronic diseases, so Lee and Katzmarzyk on.

Behavioral change required to increase life expectancy
„In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that longer ones „Seating and watching television has the potential to significantly reduce life expectancy in the US“, write the scientists. Because the data of NHANES show that adults in the US „spend on average 55 percent of their time sitting down.“ According to the US researchers is „a significant population change in behavior is required to bring about demonstrable improvements in life expectancy“. However, further research is needed for the time being in order to „Impact of reduction of sedentary activities on health status and recommendations“ say the conclusion of Peter Katzmarzyk and I-Min Lee. (Fp)

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Image: Stephanie Hofschlaeger