Being more active in the workplace, by not sitting all day, is beneficial for cardiovascular health.
- Practicing moderate to intense activity for just five minutes and adopting a less sedentary lifestyle, working while standing, had a positive effect on heart health.
- Being more active for 30 minutes during the day can also cause a 0.64 decrease in BMI.
- Replacing 30 minutes of sitting or lying time daily with moderate or intense exercise results in a reduction in waist circumference or a drop in glycated hemoglobin.
Heart attack, stroke, diabetes, hypertension… Physical inactivity, a sedentary lifestyle and a lack of sleep are key behavioral risk factors for these cardiometabolic diseases. In a new study, an international team of researchers wanted to know how more active behavior throughout the day is associated with heart health. To do this, they reviewed data from six studies, involving 15,253 people from five countries.
Sedentary behavior for 10 hours
Each participant used a wearable device on their thigh to measure their sleep duration, sedentary lifestyle, time spent standing, light or moderate-to-intense physical activity. The researchers also assessed their body mass index, waist circumference, cholesterol, triglycerides and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). The results, published in the journal European Heart Journalrevealed that the volunteers slept an average of 7 hours per night, were sedentary for 10 hours during a day, stood for 3 hours, did light intensity physical activity for almost two hours and moderate intensity to intense for more than an hour.
Being more active leads to a reduction in BMI and waist circumference
Next, the scientists modeled what would happen if an adult changed several behaviors every day for a week to estimate the effect on heart health. According to the authors, just five minutes of moderate to vigorous activity and a less sedentary lifestyle had a noticeable effect on heart health. For a 54-year-old woman with an average BMI of 26.5, for example, a 30-minute change results in a 0.64 decrease in BMI, a difference of 2.4%. Replacing 30 minutes of daily sitting or lying time with moderate or vigorous exercise could also result in a 2.5 cm reduction in waist circumference or a 1.33 mmol/mol drop in glycated hemoglobin.
“Any activity that increases your heart rate and makes you breathe faster” is beneficial for the heart
Clearly, small changes, which we can appreciate and make in the long term, can offer benefits to cardiovascular health. For example, in the office, it is possible to work standing for a few hours a day instead of sitting, walk while answering phone calls, set an alarm so you don’t forget to get up and move, climb the stairs at instead of taking the elevator. “The intensity of movement matters. (…) Any activity that increases your heart rate and makes you breathe faster, even for a minute or two” is beneficial for the heart, said Joanna Blodgett, lead author of the work, in a statement.
