Excessive sitting can raise one’s risk for heart disease, according to a new observational study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

 

“Our findings really emphasize the importance of avoiding excess sitting…whether or not you’re physically active,” said first study author and cardiology fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Ezim Ajufo, BM, BCh, according to CNN.

 

For the study, researchers looked at data from nearly 90,000 people who wore an accelerometer for a week and compared their sedentary and active time with diagnoses of heart failure, heart attack, stroke and more in later years.

 

Excessive sitting was associated with a greater risk for cardiovascular disease. What’s more, the analyzed data provided a general guideline for what might be considered too much sitting, said researchers.

 

“We would really recommend that as many people as possible avoid sitting more than 10.6 hours a day,” Ajufo said. “That’s not a hard and fast threshold, but we think it’s a reasonable first step for guidelines and public health intervention.”

 

A study published earlier this year showed that nearly one third of adults worldwide, approximately 1.8 billion people, did not meet the recommended levels of physical activity in 2022.

 

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among adults, but some groups are disproportionately affected, according to the Cleveland Clinic. For example, about 47% of Black adults have been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, compared with 36% of white adults. What’s more, Latina women are more than twice as likely as white women to have diabetes, a major risk factor for heart disease.

 

Inadequate physical inactivity can raise the risk for other conditions, including type 2 diabetes, dementia and cancer.

 

For adults, the American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes per week of heart-pumping physical activity, such as running, jumping rope, hiking uphill and cycling. For those with less time or motivation, walking is encouraged as the simplest way to get moving and improve health.

 

Click #Exercise to read articles such as “Physical Activity May Reduce Risk of Falls for Older Cancer Patients,” “Improved Fitness Linked to Lower Prostate Cancer Risk” and “Short-Term Incentives for Exercise Can Lead to Sustained Increases in Activity.”