Three Short Walks of 5 minutes each Reverse Harmful Effects Of 3 Hours Of Prolonged Sitting
by Editor on September 9, 2014
People who sit for prolonged periods, for example office workers at a desk, have a higher chance of experiencing negative health conditions but a study by scientists at Indiana University suggests that just 3 walks of 5 minutes distributed throughout 3 hours of prolonged sitting reverses harm caused to leg arteries.
Recently studies have found that long periods of sitting has been linked to health conditions such as high cholesterol, obesity, high blood sugar, metabolic syndrome, and a larger waist circumference that is associated with metabolic disease and cardiovascular problems. Research suggests that sitting makes muscles become slack so that they do not contract, impeding the pumping of blood to the heart. Instead, blood pools in the legs and immediately affects endothelial function of the arteries, a condition over the long term that shares with prolonged sitting a number of similar, negative health outcomes such as hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes, septic shock, Behcet’s disease. Endothelial dysfunction is also itself an early marker for cardiovascular disease.
In this work the researchers assigned 12 non-obese men to one of two groups. In the first, each man sat at a desk for 3 hours without moving lower extremities. In the second, the men also sat at a desk but were made to walk on a treadmill at a slow gait of 2 miles per hour for 5 minutes at fixed times, 30 minutes, 1.5 hours, and 2.5 hours into the sitting.
To assess immediate effects on health, the researchers measured endothelial function of the femoral artery. Endothelial function is measured by checking the state of inner lining of blood vessels via an easy proxy called “flow mediated dilation” (FMD) using ultrasound imaging.
The group that sat for 3 hours straight experienced a large drop in artery dilation compared to the baseline or original readings by an astonishing 50%. Correspondingly the shear rate of blood flow also dropped. In contrast, the group that had the 3 breaks of 5 minutes each did not experience a drop of FMD at all from baseline readings. Though the groups were small the effect was large so differences between the two groups were significant by p-value tests.
Dr. Saurabh Thosar, primary author of the research article said, “American adults sit for approximately eight hours a day,” he said. “The impairment in endothelial function is significant after just one hour of sitting. It is interesting to see that light physical activity can help in preventing this impairment.”
Professor Janet Wallace in the Department of Kinesiology at Indiana University was the senior author.
The study appeared on Aug 18, 2014 in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Three Short Walks Reverse Harmful Effects Of 3 Hours Of Prolonged Sitting | Neomatica
by Editor on September 9, 2014
People who sit for prolonged periods, for example office workers at a desk, have a higher chance of experiencing negative health conditions but a study by scientists at Indiana University suggests that just 3 walks of 5 minutes distributed throughout 3 hours of prolonged sitting reverses harm caused to leg arteries.
Recently studies have found that long periods of sitting has been linked to health conditions such as high cholesterol, obesity, high blood sugar, metabolic syndrome, and a larger waist circumference that is associated with metabolic disease and cardiovascular problems. Research suggests that sitting makes muscles become slack so that they do not contract, impeding the pumping of blood to the heart. Instead, blood pools in the legs and immediately affects endothelial function of the arteries, a condition over the long term that shares with prolonged sitting a number of similar, negative health outcomes such as hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes, septic shock, Behcet’s disease. Endothelial dysfunction is also itself an early marker for cardiovascular disease.
In this work the researchers assigned 12 non-obese men to one of two groups. In the first, each man sat at a desk for 3 hours without moving lower extremities. In the second, the men also sat at a desk but were made to walk on a treadmill at a slow gait of 2 miles per hour for 5 minutes at fixed times, 30 minutes, 1.5 hours, and 2.5 hours into the sitting.
To assess immediate effects on health, the researchers measured endothelial function of the femoral artery. Endothelial function is measured by checking the state of inner lining of blood vessels via an easy proxy called “flow mediated dilation” (FMD) using ultrasound imaging.
The group that sat for 3 hours straight experienced a large drop in artery dilation compared to the baseline or original readings by an astonishing 50%. Correspondingly the shear rate of blood flow also dropped. In contrast, the group that had the 3 breaks of 5 minutes each did not experience a drop of FMD at all from baseline readings. Though the groups were small the effect was large so differences between the two groups were significant by p-value tests.
Dr. Saurabh Thosar, primary author of the research article said, “American adults sit for approximately eight hours a day,” he said. “The impairment in endothelial function is significant after just one hour of sitting. It is interesting to see that light physical activity can help in preventing this impairment.”
Professor Janet Wallace in the Department of Kinesiology at Indiana University was the senior author.
The study appeared on Aug 18, 2014 in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Three Short Walks Reverse Harmful Effects Of 3 Hours Of Prolonged Sitting | Neomatica
