Yes! You sit long, you grow fatter

A new study shows further evidence for the view that spending too much time sitting down is bad for our health and our waistline, the University of Warwick in the UK wrote on its website on Tuesday. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The study suggests that waist circumference increases by two centimetres, and risk of cardiovascular diseases by 0.2 per cent, for every additional hour of sitting on top of five hours.
  • Furthermore, bad cholesterol – low-density lipoprotein (LDL) – increases and good cholesterol – high-density lipoprotein (HDL) – decreases with each additional hour of sitting from 5 hours a day.

A new study shows further evidence for the view that spending too much time sitting down is bad for our health and our waistline, the University of Warwick in the UK wrote on its website on Tuesday.

Research led by Dr William Tigbe of the Warwick Medical School at the institution has found that workers who have a desk-bound job have bigger waists and increased risk of heart disease. It supports advice to sit less and be more active – as much as seven hours a day on your feet, and walking seven miles, may be needed to avoid heart disease.

Dr Tigbe kitted out 111 healthy postal workers from the Royal Mail in Glasgow in the UK with activity monitors for seven days; 55 were office workers and 56 delivered post for a living. The study revealed differences between the two groups. Those who had desk jobs had a bigger waist circumference – 97cm compared to 94cm – and approximately one unit difference of body mass index. They also had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease – 2.2 pc compared to 1.6 pc – over ten years.

The study suggests that waist circumference increases by two centimetres, and risk of cardiovascular diseases by 0.2 per cent, for every additional hour of sitting on top of five hours. Furthermore, bad cholesterol – low-density lipoprotein (LDL) – increases and good cholesterol – high-density lipoprotein (HDL) – decreases with each additional hour of sitting from 5 hours a day.

Dr Tigbe says: “The levels associated with zero risk factors were walking more than 15,000 steps per day, which is equivalent to walking seven to eight miles, or spending seven hours per day upright. … However the levels suggested in our research would be very challenging to achieve unless incorporated into people’s occupations”.

Professor Mike Lean of the University of Glasgow’s School of Medicine, who is Dr Tigbe’s fellow researcher, says: “Our evolution, to become the human species, did not equip us well to spending all day sitting down. We probably adapted to be healthiest spending seven to eight hours every day on our feet, as hunters or gatherers. “Our new research supports that idea”. The paper is titled “Time spent in sedentary posture is associated with waist circumference and cardiovascular risk”. It is in the International Journal of Obesity.