Even relatively active people are more likely to get heart failure if they’re spending more than 10.5 hours on their backsides.
The Back Page has previously reported the welcome news that standing up while you work is no better than sitting down all day.
That, unfortunately, hasn’t rescued sitting from being the new smoking, as new evidence from Harvard links sedentary behaviour to heightened risk of heart failure and CV mortality – even in people who are otherwise active.
The research, which was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology last week, looked at wrist-worn accelerometer data from close to 90,000 participants of a UK biobank study.
At baseline, patients were an average of 62 years old and sat or lay down while awake for about 9.5 hours each day.
Their average BMI was 27 and most rated their health as “good”.
Eight years later, around 5% had developed atrial fibrillation, about 2% had developed heart failure or myocardial infarction and about 1% had died of cardiovascular-related causes.
Risk of atrial fibrillation and myocardial infarction increased steadily in tandem with the amount of time spent sitting or lying down.
Heart failure and cardiovascular death risk remained low in sitters who sat for 10 hours a day or less but rose for those who sat for more than 10.5 hours per day.
While people who met the recommended 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity were less likely to suffer atrial fibrillation or myocardial infarction no matter how long they sat, the effect on heart failure and cardiovascular mortality remained strong for those who sat longer than 10.5 hours.
The most dedicated sitters had a 40% higher risk of developing heart failure than those under that 10.5-hour cutoff; for those above the cutoff who met physical activity guidelines, heart failure risk was just 15% higher.
Looking at overall cardiovascular mortality, the sedentary group had a 54% higher risk compared to people who spent less time sitting, while the group who were spending lots of time sitting but still met recommended exercise levels had a 33% higher risk.
“Future guidelines and public health efforts should stress the importance of cutting down on sedentary time,” co-author Dr Shaan Khurshid said.
“Avoiding more than 10.6 hours per day may be a realistic minimal target for better heart health.”
To this, I say: guideline shmuideline.
I really, really like to sit down.
In fact, I consider myself a dedicated sitter.
My feet get sore when standing; this problem is easily solved by taking a seat.
When walking about, I occasionally wish to stop and eat – if I want to avoid spilling tomato sauce down my front, I must sit.
Sometimes I wish to look wise and pensive, perhaps by tenting my fingers and leaning back.
Trying to do that while standing or walking defeats the “wise and pensive” part of the exercise.
Sit back, kick your feet up and email your story tips to penny@medicalrepublic.com.au.
