We know that sitting for long periods of time isn’t good for you, but how much exercise do you need to reduce the negative health effects of sitting all day?
Studies suggest that you need about 30-40 minutes of sweating per day.
Up to 40 minutes of “moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity” each day is about the right amount to balance 10 hours of sitting still, the study says.
This is based on a meta-analysis study published in 2020 that analyzed nine previous studies of a total of 44,370 people in four countries wearing some form of fitness tracker.
The analysis found that the risk of death increased among people with a more sedentary lifestyle as the amount of time spent engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity decreased.
“For active individuals who engage in approximately 30 to 40 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, the association between more sedentary time and mortality risk is not significantly different from less sedentary time,” said Dr. The researchers explain in their paper.
In other words, moderately intensive activities such as cycling, brisk walking, and gardening can reduce the risk of early death to that of sitting and doing nothing. Links can be seen in the accumulated data of thousands of people.
Although such meta-analyses always require elaborate dot-joining across separate studies using different volunteers, timescales and conditions, the advantage of this particular study is that it is not self-reported data, It relies on relatively objective data from wearables. By participants.
At the time, the study was published with the release of the World Health Organization’s 2020 Global Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior, compiled by 40 scientists from six continents. British Journal of Sports Medicine (BHSM) has also published a special edition containing both the study and the revised guidelines.
“As these guidelines emphasize, all physical activity is important, and any amount is better than none,” said a researcher in Physical Activity and Population Health at the University of Sydney, Australia. said Emmanuel Stamatakis..
“People can protect their health and offset the negative effects of physical inactivity.”
Fitness tracker-based studies are in line with the 2020 WHO guidelines, which recommend 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75-150 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity each week to combat sedentary behavior. I am doing it.
Climbing stairs instead of taking elevators, playing with children and pets, participating in yoga and dancing, doing household chores, walking, and biking have all been advocated as ways for people to become more active. According to researchers, to quickly manage 30 to 40 minutes, start small.
A 40-minute activity window is consistent with previous research, but is difficult to recommend for all ages and body types. As more data is published, we need to learn more about how to stay fit even when you have to spend long hours at your desk.
“While the new guidelines reflect the best available science, there are still some gaps in our knowledge.
“For example, it’s not yet clear where the exact criteria for ‘sitting too much’ lie. But this is a fast-paced area of research and we hope to have an answer in the next few years.”
The study is published here and the 2020 guidelines are available here. British Journal of Sports Medicine.
An earlier version of this article was first published in November 2020.
