Sit Less And Move More Is The Mantra For Healthy Heart.

By Dr. Balbir Singh in Cardiac Sciences , Cardiology

Dec 30 , 2021 | 1 min read

It is well known that lack of physical exercise is associated with higher incidence of cardiovascular diseases and heart attacks but when we talk of physical exercise many of us think it means running and gyming, but this is not true even the concept of sit less and walk more produces outstanding benefits. Observational studies shows sitting occupies the majority of adults waking hours and excessive sitting is detrimental in many ways to individuals health.

Most adults spend more than half of waking hours sitting and this pattern has been exemplified during Covid time. Observational studies are pointing out clearly that reducing and regularly interrupting sitting time are the reducing the risk of heart disease – this is the basis of the emerging approach to stay healthy.

The use wearable accelerometers such as smart watches etc have made our understanding of the effect of activity and heart diseases more clear. In large data from more than one million participants higher levels of sitting times were associated with increased all cause mortality and heart disease. This study suggested that total sitting time should be less than 4 hours per day.

Mechanism of benefits of sit less and move more :

Less active time results in diminished skeletal muscle activity which leads to change in metabolic factors particularly blood sugar or glycemic levels and eventually leading to cardiovascular ill health. The use of skeletal muscle leads to energy expenditure and fat burn leading to overall improvement in the heathy milieu.

Recommendations to improve physical activity :

This is a very simple concept which can promote better health , cause weight reduction , improvement in diabetes and promote cardiovascular health. All a person needs to do is monitor how much time he spends in sitting which can be done manually or by smart watches, and try to reduce it by just walking. The use of walking during office hours, using stairs instead of lift, walking to the market instead of using bike or car is all that is needed . This will overall bring a sense of care and would promote healthy diet, quit smoking and preventing us from an epidemic of heart diseases which we as cardiologists are witnessing.