A new study just published in the Journal of the American Heart Association , the journal of the American Heart Association, finds an association between the time women spend sitting down and the risks of heart disease. The longer the sedentary lifestyle, the more ballots of having a heart disease. The observational study was carried out with postmenopausal women with an average age of 63 years, overweight and, in general, obese (on average their BMI was 31 kg / m2. A BMI greater than 30 is considered obese).
Researchers studied the sitting habits of overweight or obese postmenopausal Hispanic and non-Hispanic women to see whether total time spent sitting and / or average uninterrupted periods of sitting may increase the risk of heart disease and whether these relationships vary by ethnicity.
What was seen is that Hispanic women sat, on average, almost an hour less per day than non-Hispanics (8½ hours compared to more than 9 hours for non-Hispanics). They also spent less time sitting continuously. However, each additional 15-minute increase in the non-stop session was associated with a 5% higher fasting blood sugar in Hispanics, compared to a less than 1% increase in non-Hispanics.
The women who participated in the study used accelerometers , devices that measure both physical activity and the act of sitting. They wore them for 14 days and only took them off for sleeping, showering or swimming. Their sugar and insulin resistance were also measured with a blood test. Well, the data obtained were as follows: each additional hour spent sitting was associated with an increase of more than 6% in fasting insulin and a 7% increase in insulin resistance . Every additional 15 minutes in the mean hospital stay was associated with a more than 7% increase in fasting insulin and a nearly 9% increase in insulin resistance.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Dorothy D. Sears, a professor of nutrition at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University in Phoenix, was very surprised to find such a strong relationship between the amount of time people spent women experienced sitting and insulin resistance , even after accounting for exercise and obesity. Insulin resistance is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
“The findings of this study are based on previous research, including our own that showed in older women that too long in sedentary behaviors was associated with an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.” Sears notes that reducing the time spent in bed in the hospital would improve blood glucose and blood flow. Also that the practice of physical activity, even daily and low intensity such as cooking or shopping, could reduce the risk of mortality and prevent both heart disease and stroke.
Regarding the differences obtained by ethnicity, Sears discussed the possibility that Hispanic women have genetic differences that increase the negative effects that sitting has on blood sugar.
