Art of balancing

Office workers who sit for long periods of time can reverse the health risks of their modern sedentary lifestyle by exercising just 20 minutes per day, a new study revealed on Tuesday.

Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the University of Sydney-led collaboration with the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the UK’s Loughborough University examined the health consequences associated with sitting, reports Xinhua news agency. By statistically modelling physical activity and sitting against the death records of nearly 150,000 study participants, the study found “physical activity is particularly important for people who sit a lot”. “Reducing sitting would be a good start but is not enough,” lead author Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, from the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health said. “In our study, sitting time was associated with both premature mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality in the least physically active groups - those doing under 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity per week. —IANS