20 minutes of daily activity might help you decrease harm caused by prolonged sitting: Study

Excessive sitting has become a major concern for most of us, especially since a lot of jobs involve people sitting for prolongedperiods of time.We have time and again heard of the ill effects of such a scenario on our health.However, recentresearch has found that just a few minutes ofexercise or activity can help you counter the effects of prolonged sitting.

The research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that 22 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity or exercise can help in maintaining your health. The experts found that as a person's activity level increases, the risk of dying prematurely from any disease decreases.

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The study appears to contradict the findings of earlier studies which showed that regular exercise cannot zero out the negative effect of sitting down. A 2017 study published in the Annals of Internal found that working out regularly can reduce some harms of prolonged sitting but cannot eliminate them completely.

150 minutes per week

The study's lead author, Edvard Sagelv, a researcher at the Arctic University of Norway, says that 150 minutes per week ofactivity is enough to counteract the detrimental healtheffects of prolonged sitting.

He added, "This is the beautiful part: we are talking about activities that make you breathe a little bit heavier, like brisk walking, or gardening or walking up a hill."

To many of us, these 150 minutes appear to be a lot, but Edvard broke it down into manageable terms for us.

He said, "Think of it: only 20 minutes of this a day is enough, meaning, a small stroll of 10 minutes twice a day — like jumping off the bus one stop before your actual destination to work and then when taking the bus back home, jumping off one stop before."

The study analysed 12,000 people from Sweden, Norway and the US for two years. The participants wore movement detection devices on their hips for 10 hours a day for at least four days.

The study found that over an average of five years, 805 people had died. Furthermore, of those who died, 353 had spent less than 10 and half hours seated, while 448 averaged 10 and half hours or more.

The researchers found that people sitting for over 12 hours a day are at 38 per cent increased risk of death as compared to those who sit for 8 hours, but this appliesto only those who manage to do a few minutes of exercise.

(With inputs from agencies)

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