Researchers followed 70,000 men and 77,000 women for 17 years for the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Survey. During the 17 years, 12,000 women and 18,000 men were affected by cancer cancer. The study results, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, show that women who spent more than six hours a day sitting were at higher risk of developing breast cancer, ovary and blood than those who sat less than 3 hours a day. On the other hand, they did not find the same trend in most men, whose risk of cancer did not appear to increase due to the fact of sitting for a long time. These results therefore suggest that the increased risk of cancer due to prolonged sitting mainly concerns women.
However, sitting too long has serious and long-lasting health consequences for both sexes. An article in the American daily New York Times explains that it is enough to sit for an hour for the production of enzymes that burn fat in the body to decrease by 90%.
Dr. Alpa Patel, an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society found that, “Many factors could explain the link between time spent sitting and a high mortality rate. Remaining seated for a prolonged period of time is found to have serious consequences on the metabolism, and might even influence things like triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, cholesterol, resting blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose levels, and leptin, which are biomarkers of obesity and heart disease, among others. »
The American cancer research center advises those who work sitting at a desk to get up regularly by calling meetings with colleagues rather than sending emails, taking the stairs when going to and from the office and to stretch regularly during the day.
