Sitting for long hours may result in heart attack

 

 

Fat deposited around the heart suffocates the functionality of its muscle — hence leading to conditions like high blood pressure, myocardial infarction (where part of the heart muscle dies) and subsequently stroke.

 

Shockingly, it has been revealed that this kind of fat that stays in one place is difficult to burn out even with vigorous and regular exercises. These results were released by the American Heart Association in September 2012.

 

There have been numerous large studies recently suggesting that when it comes to its deleterious health effects, sitting is not just the absence of physical activity — it has effects on the body that go beyond lack of exercise.

 

This means that even if you run everyday, but then sit for eight hours a day, the sitting is still doing something bad for your health. Therefore, sitting for long hours has been provisionally declared detrimental to one’s health.

 

This American study looked at data on 504 Californian adults, averagely aged 65. In particular, a CT scan (a computerised scan that creates detailed images of the inside of your body) was used and data revealed how much of certain types of body fat were deposited in each participant’s body. 

 

“We looked at subcutaneous fat, which is stuff on the outside (for example, a “pot belly”); then visceral fat, which is around the organs and intramuscular fat, which is actually in the muscles. We also looked at intra-thoracic (chest cavity) fat and pericardial fat, which is around the heart,” said the study lead author Britta Larsen, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of cardiovascular epidemiology at the University of California, San Diego.

 

The participants were also asked about the amount of time per week they spent sitting and how much time they had spent being physically active.

 

The study found that the more time spent sitting, the bigger the area of fat deposited around a person’s heart. Fat deposited around the heart (pericardial fat) is strongly related to cardiovascular disease. It gets in the way of heart function; it clogs up the arteries, virtually strangling the body. 

 

There was also bad news for people who sit a lot, but assume that they can exercise away all that fat around the heart. According to the study, regular exercise was not related to a lessening of the fat around the heart, although it did help reduce fat around the organs, which is strongly tied to diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

 

All of this means that for people who want to prevent the buildup of unhealthy fat deposits, exercise alone may not be enough. 

 

The study “really emphasises that (sitting and exercise) are two distinct behaviors,” Larsen explained. “In order to really be healthy, you need to focus on both — get enough exercise, but also not to sit for 10 or more hours per day like most of us do.”

 

This study raises interesting issues; since sitting for long hours is not so good then workplaces will hopefully be modified into stand-up work settings.

 

It could, however, be too early to link heart disease with sitting, some specialists say. This is because heart disease is multi-factorial. However this study particularly points out an association between sitting for long hours over time and the deadly fat around the heart. Therefore, now is the time to sit less and be more active.