Thaindian News

Jan 12 (THAINDIAN NEWS) For those whose jobs require that they sit at a desk all day, you may worry about the toll it is taking on your health, and you would be right to do so. It has been proven that this sedentary lifestyle can have devastating effects on the body, putting the person in danger of obesity, and heart disease. A new study shows, however, that just by simply taking short break to walk around, you can help keep your waistline down, and lower your risk of heart disease.

For those who tend to sit all day long without taking those breaks, the results can be higher blood pressure, swelling in the body, higher triglycerides, larger waistlines, and lower good cholesterol. Even those who go to the gym and exercise regularly away from work tend to have these issues if their job demands that they sit for long periods.

According to Dr Murray a Mittleman, director of the cardiovascular epidemiology research unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an associate professor in the department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, “These findings are not surprising.

In fact, the Surgeon General report recommends that individuals should accumulate activity incrementally throughout the day, and this is really consistent with that.”

The research, which did not include Dr Mittleman, showed that even when only small break just to stand for a short time regularly, this was a big help. As Genevieve N Healy, leader of the team at the Cancer Prevention Center at the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland in Herston, Australia, states, “This research suggests that even small changes to a person’s activity levels [as little as standing up regularly] might help to lower cardiovascular risk. These changes can be readily incorporated into the person’s day-to-day life [including the work environment]. Stand up, move more, more often, could be used as a slogan to help get this message across.”