Unlike the 2010 edition of the Guidelines for Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior, which published the World Health Organization on 25 November 2020, which recommends that aerobic activity lasts at least 10 minutes at a time, the new guidelines emphasize that any duration of moderate- to high-intensity activity "counts".
In life, we are afraid that the length of our "sedentary" time is longer than imagined. Sedentary people, WHO advises you to stand up and take a few more steps, it is always good to move!
You may have been wrong about sitting!
Usually we think of sitting as sitting for more than 1-2 hours. But in fact, this understanding is not quite right.
According to the guide, sedentary behavior refers to low-energy consumption behavior that sits, reclines, or lies down for a long time while awake. Specifically, in the awake state, the energy consumption of ≤ 1.5 MET (plum peel) in a sitting, reclining or reclining position, which is a metabolic equivalent of energy.
In other words, lying down and playing with mobile phones all the time is also a sedentary behavior.
There are actually many behaviors in life that are less than 1.5 MET (mette), such as: lying down to watch TV, sitting playing games, sitting watching TV, writing, typing, reading, taking buses, private cars, standing to call people, etc.
Sedentary behavior, from physical injury to heart!
Maybe you sit for a day or a month and don't feel anything, but after sitting for many years, the harm will appear.
1. Sedentary for a long time will make people more ugly
Foreign scientists simulated the appearance of sedentary office workers 20 years later, taking the office behavior data of 3,000 office workers as a sample, and analyzed the whole person to find that the whole person became like this:
Hunchback: because of the long period of time to maintain an office sitting posture;
Redness and swelling of the eyes: because of staring at the computer screen for a long time;
Varicose veins in the legs, bloated: poor blood circulation in the lower legs due to sedentary lengths;
Sallow skin: it is because of staying indoors for a long time and being exposed to artificial light.
2. Sedentary, increased risk of bowel cancer
In 2013, Nie Weiping, a Go "chess saint", suffered from rectal cancer, and he recalled in an interview, "Now that I think about it, my rectal cancer is related to sitting for a long time." My sedentary habit is also an occupational disease, when playing, a game of chess can sometimes be the next day, and I basically can't get up when I sit. ”
Indeed, people who sit in the office have a higher risk of colon cancer.
Long-term sedentary, intestinal peristalsis weakened, slowed down, harmful components in the feces including carcinogens in the colon and stimulate the intestinal mucosa, coupled with sedentary abdominal cavity, pelvic cavity, lumbosacral blood circulation is not smooth, will lead to a decline in intestinal immune barrier function, these increase the risk of colorectal cancer.
3. Sedentary, increased cardiovascular risk
A 5-year study of 5638 elderly women published in the journal Circulation confirmed that sedentary behavior is an important factor affecting the cardiovascular health of older women.
The study found that women who spent more than 11 hours a day with total sedentary time had a 62 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those who had less than 9 hours of total sedentary time per day.
For every extra hour of sitting, the risk of cardiovascular disease increases by 12 percent and the risk of heart attack by 26 percent.
Sedentary and immobile patients, blood circulation slows down, blood viscosity increases, myocardial contraction is weak, and over time, arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, etc. will be accompanied.
4. Sedentary, high risk of depression
Data from a 2020 prospective cohort study in The Lancet Psychiatry suggest that adolescents who sit and do not exercise increase the risk of depression.
The study analyzed data from 4257 adolescents and followed them for 6 years and found that for every additional hour of sedentary time per day at age 12, 14 and 16, depression scores increased by 11.1%, 8 percent, or 10.5 percent, respectively, by age 18.
At age 12, 14, and 16, for every additional hour of light physical activity per day, depression scores were reduced by 9.6 percent, 7.8 percent, and 11.1 percent, respectively, at age 18.
Of course, everyone knows that sitting for a long time is not good, but many people work a busy day and come home just to lie down. So what to do?
The World Health Organization can only recommend this: to do a little is better than not to do well, even if the amount of exercise is not up to standard, as long as you do a little, it is also good.