WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A recent study warned that sitting for ten or more hours per day could increase the risk of heart failure even in those who exercise regularly.
'Our findings really emphasize the importance of avoiding excess sitting. whether or not you're physically active,' said first study author Dr. Ezim Ajufo.
The research, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, analyzed health data of about 90,000 people from UK biobank. It focused on information collected from accelerometer of participants with a mean sedentary time per day of about 9.4 hours.
The scientists later evaluated the effect of sedentary time and physical activity on heart conditions like conditions like atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, and heart failure.
At the end of eight years, the researchers found that 3,600 participants developed atrial fibrillation, more than 1,850 got heart failure, and over 1,600 had myocardial infarction. Around 900 of the individuals died of heart disease during the follow-up period.
'We would really recommend that as many people as possible avoid sitting more than 10.6 hours a day,' Ajufo said. 'That's not a hard and fast threshold, but we think it's a reasonable first step for guidelines and public health intervention.'
The researchers stressed the importance of cutting down on sedentary time, and promoting physical activity as risks of atrial fibrillation and myocardial infarction were significantly reduced in participants doing 150 minutes of physical activity or more.
'Avoiding more than 10.6 hours per day may be a realistic minimal target for better heart health,' study co-author Shaan Khurshid urged.
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