Sedentary lifestyle: avoid risks to your health
The quarantine due to the pandemic brought with it measures that changed our habits. One of the measures taken to prevent the spread has been social distancing, which has turned us into people who spend most of our time (if not all) at home. Consequently, we no longer go to gyms or other indoor sports facilities. If we adopt working from home, we no longer have to commute, so our daily routine has become going from the bed to the sofa or the computer chair, to the kitchen for food even when it's not mealtime; and this rest, which is seemingly harmless, is not so harmless for the body, which is no longer occasional but has become the norm.
Cardiologists assert that "being out of shape, whether on a treadmill or during a stress test, carries a worse prognosis, in terms of mortality, than being hypertensive, diabetic, or a smoker." According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a "sedentary lifestyle" increases the chances of death by 20% to 30%. The organization estimates that "up to five million deaths could be avoided each year if the world's population were more active." We should therefore view physical inactivity as risky as smoking, not maintaining a healthy weight, or not eating a healthy diet.
Exercise improves oxygen utilization at the muscular level through vasodilation mediated by nitric oxide, and this exercise also increases oxygen consumption. The most beneficial type of exercise for cardiovascular health is aerobic exercise, defined as dynamic, repetitive, rhythmic, submaximal exercise performed by large muscle groups at an intensity that each person can maintain for extended periods without compromising the body's stability. Continuous exercise builds more endurance, while interval training leads to a greater increase in aerobic capacity.
Can we change the forecasts?
The good news for everyone is that the same scientists who warn about the serious effects of a sedentary lifestyle also emphasize how easy it is to avoid this harm. "Just walking briskly for 15 to 30 minutes a day can significantly improve our health." In other words, you don't need to join a gym, become a runner , or practice any other sport to stop being sedentary. You don't even need to leave the house: going up and down stairs, standing on your toes, walking up and down stairs, or gardening (for those who have some green space) are all good examples.
The important thing is to be active for two and a half hours each week, or 150 minutes. Cycling instead of driving, or getting off public transport early and walking a few blocks each day, are also simple ways to meet the weekly activity requirement, if you have the opportunity to leave home. For children and teenagers, it's recommended that they be active for at least one hour each day, although it doesn't have to be all at once.
Exercise has a rejuvenating effect and protects the immune system.
The benefits of exercise are so powerful that it has even been discovered that it can slow the aging process . Studies of people who remained active from youth into old age (cyclists up to 80 years old who continued to ride 100 or 150 km per week) found incredible results. "They had a lot of T cells," these are key lymphocytes in our body's defense system, which kill pathogens or infected cells, but which usually decrease with age.
Researchers discovered that these individuals had an unusually high number of T cells because they had managed to prevent their thymus, the organ that produces these lymphocytes and which begins to shrink from around age 20, reducing to barely 3% of its size by age 70, from aging. However, it is considered that reaching those levels of activity is not necessary to see an improvement in health. Simply doing something helps, as physical activity improves everything that worsens with age. These are the recommendations of Janet Lord, director of the Institute of Inflammation and Aging at the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom.
Amid the coronavirus crisis , it has been common to hear about the important role our immune system plays in fighting the disease. It is no coincidence that people over 65 are at the highest risk of becoming infected and developing a more severe form of the illness.
A study published in the British Journal of Sport Medicine concludes that exercise can be beneficial in reducing the risk of complications if one contracts COVID-19 and therefore recommends that health authorities advise the population to engage in regular physical activity "to prevent severe COVID-19 and its complications, including death."
How to be a more active person?
It can be a challenge to include physical activity in your day, whether at work or at home, but be creative and find a way to move.
- Get up from your chair and move around at least once an hour
- Stand up when you're on the phone
- Use the stairs instead of the elevator
- Walk around your workplace or your home neighborhood
- Hold walking meetings or stand-up meetings with coworkers instead of sitting in a conference room
Remember: Being sedentary carries health risks; so move, a little or a lot, at your own pace, in your own time, but move!
Ramona Ávila Núñez, PhD
References
Kyle Mandsager, Serge Harb, Paul Cremer, Dermot Phelan, Steven E. Nissen, Wael Jaber . Fitness With Long-term Mortality Among Adults Undergoing Exercise Treadmill Testing Association of Cardiorespiratory . Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open . 2018; 1 (6): e183605. Doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.3605
I-Min Lee , Eric J Shiroma, Felipe Lobelo, Pekka Puska, Steven N Blair, Peter T. Katzmarzyk. Effect of physical inactivity on major non-communicable diseases worldwide: an analysis of burden of disease and life expectancy. Lancet. 2012 Jul 21;380(9838):219-29. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61031-9. PMID: 22818936; PMCID: PMC3645500.
Robert Sallis, Deborah Rohm Young, Sara Y Tartof, James F Sallis, Jeevan Sall, Qiaowu Li, Gary N Smith, Deborah A Cohen. Physical inactivity is associated with a higher risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes: a study in 48,440 adult patients British Journal of Sport Medicine . Published Online First: 13 April 2021. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2021-104080