Sedentary lifestyle is a real public health problem. It would significantly increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
It is definitely not good to sit at your desk all day. As studies multiply to show the harmful effects of a sedentary lifestyle on health, researchers have tried to quantify the risks of developing type 2 diabetes, associated with not moving.
Based on a cohort of 2,497 participants, their study, published in the journal Diabetologia, examined the links between the duration of sedentary episodes and the metabolic status of each individual.
Oral glucose tolerance test
Participants, with a median age of 60, were asked to wear an accelerometer for eight days, 24 hours a day. The researchers thus measured the number of hours spent in a sedentary situation, the duration of the moments spent in motion, and the average duration of the periods spent without moving.
Participants then took an oral glucose tolerance test, which involves having them drink a very sweet liquid. In people without diabetes, blood sugar will increase quickly, but will also decrease quite quickly thereafter, while in people with diabetes it will decrease much more slowly.
The researchers showed that more than half of the participants had a normal metabolic status, 15% had abnormalities, and 29% had type 2 diabetes.
They were also the most sedentary, for an average of 26 minutes extra, compared to the other participants. In addition, for every additional hour spent without moving, the researchers calculated that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes increased by 22%.
The researchers believe that other larger studies should be carried out to validate their results, but in the meantime, their work could help to better orient diabetes prevention programs, by limiting the sedentary lifestyle of individuals at risk.
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