The latest findings, published this week in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, indicate that the amount of leisure time spent sitting in front of a screen can have such an overwhelming, seemingly irreparable impact on one’s health that physical activity doesn’t produce much benefit.
The study followed 4,512 middle-aged Scottish men for a little more than four years on average. It found that those who said they spent two or more leisure hours a day sitting in front of a screen were at double the risk of a heart attack or other cardiac event compared with those who watched less. Those who spent four or more hours of recreational time in front of a screen were 50 percent more likely to die of any cause. It didn’t matter whether the men were physically active for several hours a week — exercise didn’t mitigate the risk associated with the high amount of sedentary screen time...
The study focused on recreational screen time because it’s the easiest to curtail, Dr. Stamatakis said. But he encouraged employees who work at computers all day to get up and take breaks and short walks periodically.
The rest of the story is in the Health section of the
New York Times.
There have to be other factors involved or desk work, TV viewing, and movie watching would have to be found to have the same effect...
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this study would show the same results done in other cultures.
If it is true, just think - all those hours sitting at a school desk 8 hours a day from kindergarten through graduate school would have to be declared detrimental to the health of children!
"... exercise didn’t mitigate the risk associated with the high amount of sedentary screen time ... he encouraged employees who work at computers all day to get up and take breaks and short walks periodically ..."
ReplyDeleteThat's great advi-... wait a second here...