\nISLAMABAD, Nov 11 (Online): Baseball great Satchel Paige famously said \u201cDon\u2019t look back. Something might be gaining on you.\u201d
\nIn other words: keep moving.
\nThat\u2019s the theme of a new study that states any activity \u2014 even sleeping \u2014 is better for the heart than sitting.<\/p>\n
Supported by the British Heart Foundation and published today in the European Heart Journal, the study\u2019s authors say their research is the first to assess how different movement patterns throughout the 24-hour day are linked to heart health.<\/p>\n
The researchers say it\u2019s the first evidence to emerge from the international Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep (ProPASS) consortium.<\/p>\n
Cardiovascular diseaseTrusted Source \u2014 all diseases of the heart and circulation \u2014 is the number one cause of mortality globally, the researchers point out. In 2021, it was responsible for one in three deaths (18 million) worldwide, with coronary heart disease the single biggest killer.
\nHow the exercise and heart health study was conducted
\nIn their study, University College London scientists analyzed data from six studies, encompassing 15,246 people from five countries, to see how movement across the day is associated with heart health.<\/p>\n
Each participant wore a device on their thigh measuring their activity throughout the 24-hour day and had their heart health measured.<\/p>\n
Heart health was measured using six outcomes: body-mass index (BMI), waist circumference, HDL cholesterol, HDL-to-total cholesterol ratio, triglycerides, and HbA1c.<\/p>\n
The study identified behaviors making up a typical 24-hour day, with time spent doing moderate-vigorous activity providing the most benefit to heart health, followed by light activity, standing, and sleeping. All were compared with the adverse impact of sedentary behavior.<\/p>\n
The team modeled what would happen if an individual changed various amounts of one behavior for another each day for a week to estimate the effect on heart health for each scenario. They reported that when replacing sedentary behavior, as little as 5 minutes of moderate-vigorous activity had a noticeable effect on heart health.
\nHow activity helps cardiovascular health
\nThe researchers said for a 54-year-old woman with an average body mass index of 26.5, a 30-minute change translated into a 0.64 decrease in BMI, which is a difference of 2.4%.<\/p>\n
Replacing 30 minutes of daily sitting or lying time with moderate or vigorous exercise could also translate into a 2.5 cm (2.7%) decrease in waist circumference or a 1.33 mmol\/mol (3.6%) decrease in glycated haemoglobin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big takeaway from our research is that while small changes to how you move can have a positive effect on heart health, intensity of movement matters,\u201d Jo Blodgett, PhD, the study\u2019s lead author and a researchers at the UCL Surgery & Interventional Science and the Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Blodgett added that the most beneficial change the team observed was replacing sitting with moderate to vigorous activity, which could be a run, a brisk walk, or stair climbing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically any activity that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster, even for a minute or two,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Although the authors said the findings can\u2019t infer causality between movement behaviors and cardiovascular outcomes, this research does contribute to a growing body of evidence linking moderate to vigorous physical activity over 24 hours with improved body fat metrics.<\/p>\n
They also said more long-term studies will be crucial to better understanding the associations between movement and cardiovascular outcomes.
\nHow to increase your daily activities
\nResearchers said that although time spent doing vigorous activity was the quickest way to improve heart health, there are ways for people of all abilities to benefit. It\u2019s just that the lower the intensity of the activity, the longer the time is required to start having a tangible benefit.<\/p>\n
They said using a standing desk for a few hours a day instead of a sitting desk, for example, is a change over a relatively large amount of time but is also one that could be integrated into a working routine fairly easily.<\/p>\n
The least active subjects were also found to gain the greatest benefit from becoming more active.
\n\u201cA key novelty of the ProPASS consortium is the use of wearable devices that better differentiate between types of physical activity and posture, allowing us to estimate the health effects of even subtle variations with greater precision,\u201d Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, the joint senior author of the study and a professor the Charles Perkins Centre and Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, an interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in California, told Medical News Today there are many simple ways to add more steps to one\u2019s day.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake scheduled breaks throughout the day to take a short five-minute walk, either around the house or around the office; taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking farther from the store and walking, and walking more briskly when shopping,\u201d he advised.
\nChen said using stairs has multiple positive effects.
\n\u201cWalking upstairs is harder exercise than walking on level ground. That\u2019s because not only are you moving your body, you\u2019re moving it against gravity, and you\u2019re essentially pushing yourself up and out,\u201d he said. \u201cYou are also building your muscles in your lower body, strengthening your core, and your lower back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClimbing stairs is more difficult, you\u2019re doing more exercise, and more exercise is better for you and your heart. We think that climbing stairs actually gives you three times as much exercise as the same amount of time walking on the ground,\u201d Chen noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD, Nov 11 (Online): Baseball great Satchel Paige famously said \u201cDon\u2019t look back. Something might be gaining on you.\u201d In other words: keep moving. That\u2019s the theme of a new study that states any activity \u2014 even sleeping \u2014 is better for the heart than […]<\/p>\n
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