By Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis on us),
People who lead sedentary lives without committing to physical exercise face a higher risk of developing a variety of health problems, including diabetes, hypertension and heart failure, a new study confirms.
The peer-reviewed study, published Jan. 2 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its journal of chronic disease prevention, examined how physical attachment is related to health.
After analyzing hospital data from 7,261 adult patients, the study concluded that physically active people had “significantly lower diastolic blood pressure, resting heart rate, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and significantly higher HDL cholesterol” compared to less active ones.
People who exercised more had significantly lower incidences of as many as 19 inactivity-related conditions, including anemia insufficiency, chronic lung disease, depression, uncomplicated hypertension, complex hypertension, obesity, mild liver disease, drug abuse, hypothyroidism, psychoses, weight loss, uncomplicated diabetes, complex diabetes, congestive heart failure, neurological disorders affecting movement, peripheral vascular disease, valve disease, neurological seizures and autoimmune diseases.
For their study, the researchers collected data from studies patients submitted during hospitalizations between November 2017 and December 2022.
The study asked two simple questions related to their exercise habits – how many days a week they practiced the exercises and how much time was spent on such activities.
Patients were divided into three segments: 60 percent were physically active, 36 percent were insufficiently active, and 4 percent were inactive.
The level of activity directly corresponded to medical conditions, with inactive people having an average of 2.2 conditions, which dropped to 1.5 among insufficiently active people and to 1.2 for active people.
The study defines “active” people as those who reported moderately vigorous exercise for at least 150 minutes a week, while “insufficiently active” people were those who reported 1 to 149 minutes a week.
The researchers claimed that the findings support “regular screening of patients for inaction and providing inactive patients with resources to promote physical activity.”
The study was funded by the University of Iowa’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Authors affiliated with the University of Iowa did not list potential conflicts of interest.
Fighting a sedentary lifestyle
A study published last year found that walking 10,000 steps every day can reduce the health of a sedentary lifestyle, with a 21 percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease and a 39 percent risk of death.
Lead author Matthew Ahmadi explained that while increasing the number of daily steps is beneficial, it’s not an excuse to sit for a long time.
“This is by no means a release from prison for people who sit too long,” he said. “However, it has an important public health message that all exercise is important and that people can and should try to make up for the health consequences of the inevitable sedentary time by increasing their daily number of steps.”
The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has issued guidelines for healthy physical activity for American adults.
Adults should “move more and sit less” on a daily basis. Some physical activity, no matter how little, is better than nothing at all, the instructions say.
“For significant health benefits, adults should perform at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate-intensity weekly or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.”
Alternatively, they should consider “an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous aerobic activity.” Aerobic exercise should spread throughout the week.
The agency also recommended that adults do muscle-strengthening exercises of moderate or higher intensity at least two days a week. These exercises should cover all major muscle groups in the body, he said, adding that such activities provide additional health benefits.
As for older adults, if they cannot perform moderate-intensity aerobic activities for 150 minutes a week because they suffer from chronic diseases, “they should be as physically active as their abilities and conditions allow,” the guidelines say.
