Almost half of US adults are ‘couch potatoes’ managing absolutely no exercise, a new study has shown.<\/p>\n
Using data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), researchers found that a quarter of adults sit for more than eight hours per day and one in 10 are physically inactive.<\/p>\n
In fact, just 2.6 percent of the population sits for less than four hours a day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lack of exercise and being sedentary are both well-known to increase the risk of several health problems including diabetes, heart disease and cancer.<\/p>\n
The team, led by the University of Pennsylvania, says understanding the prevalence of these behaviors could help doctors\u00a0determine whether to prioritize interventions focusing on sedentary time, physical activity or both.<\/p>\n
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A new study, led by the University of Pennsylvania, has found that a quarter of adults sit for more than eight hours per day (file image)<\/p>\n
For the study, which was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers analyzed data from the 2015-16 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.<\/p>\n
The survey assesses the health of adults and children in the US and tracks changes over time.<\/p>\n
Sedentary behavior was measured as time spent sitting down with examples including at a desk at work, traveling in a car, watching TV or using a computer.<\/p>\n
It was assessed with the question: ‘How much time do you usually spend sitting on a typical day?’<\/p>\n
Participants could answer in categories of zero to less than four hours, four to less than six hours, six to eight hours, and more than eight hours per day\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The respondents also reported the frequency and duration of physical activity during a typical week.<\/p>\n
Don’t retire – and have plenty of sex! New study reveals the…<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n How to be 80 years young!\u00a0Believe it or not, these men and…<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n This was calculated using current guidelines as inactive (no moderate-or-vigorous intensity activity), insufficiently active (some but not enough to meet the definition), sufficiently active (150 to 300 minutes per week) or highly active (more than 300 minutes per week).<\/p>\n Researchers discovered that 26 percent of US adults sit for more than eight hours per day and 45 percent are physically inactive.<\/p>\n Even more surprising, one in 10 US adults are both.\u00a0<\/p>\n The smallest proportion sat for less than four hours per day and were sufficiently active – a mere 2.6 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Both high sedentary behavior and physical inactivity have negative health effects, and evidence suggests the risk of premature mortality is particularly elevated when they occur together,’ said Dr Emily Ussery, an epidemiologist at the CDC.<\/p>\n ‘Evidence-based strategies to reduce sitting time, increase physical activity, or both would potentially benefit most US adults, particularly older adults.’\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The smallest proportion sat for less than four hours per day and were sufficiently active – a mere 2.6 percent<\/p>\n The benefits of exercise are well-known. It can reduce the risk of major illnesses, such as stroke, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer by up to 50 percent and lower risk of early death by 30 percent.<\/p>\n Moreover, regular physical activity can boost self-esteem, mood, sleep quality and energy, as well as reducing the risk of stress, depression and dementia.<\/p>\n New guidelines released last week by the US Department of Health and Human Services urge\u00a0Americans that any bit of physical activity is important \/<\/p>\n It’s an attempt to raise the bar higher – previously, guidelines said adults should be aiming for at least 10 minutes of aerobic activity a day.<\/p>\n But adherence has been low, so scientists are now changing tact, encouraging people to see the benefit in any bit of movement – even if it just last two or three minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Almost half of US adults are ‘couch potatoes’ managing absolutely no exercise, a new study has shown. Using data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), researchers found that a quarter of adults sit for more than eight hours per day and one in 10 are physically inactive. In fact, just 2.6 percent Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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