health : too much sitting is 'hazardous'

OBADWORKZ. SITTING IMAGE

Many adults can spend more than 70 per cent of their day sitting, being virtually immobile, says Professor Neville Owen of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute.

'Physical activity is so fundamentally important and is being under-utilised in many areas of preventative health and medicine,' he told AAP ahead of speaking to a Melbourne health care conference on Thursday.

While the recommended daily 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise was to be commended, Prof Owen said this was only a tiny proportion of people's waking hours.

Studies had shown that sitting time was a strong predictor of health risks and resulting premature deaths, while others had shown the benefits of breaking up sitting time, especially in the workplace.

Baker IDI laboratories had done research where people sat all day then had their blood glucose, insulin and other levels measured.

'They then have one experimental day when they, very simply, just break up their sitting time every half hour, moving for two to three minutes,' Prof Owen said.

This resulted in 'huge improvements' in their levels.

'More activity is always better, but there is still so much more to explore, such as whether three or four longer breaks during the day could make a difference,' Prof Owen said.

Source : AAP

diabetes + heart disease = early death

Ever heard of the term diabetic heart disease?

The term "diabetic heart disease" (DHD) refers to heart disease that develops in people who have diabetes.

Diabetic heart disease

People suffering from both diabetes and heart disease are at a greater early death risk than people with just one condition or no disease, a study said. After analysing more than 135,000 deaths that occurred during prolonged follow-up of almost 1.2 million participants, researchers from the University of Cambridge found that an individual in his/her 60s having both the conditions has an average reduction in life expectancy of about 15 years.”

A combination of diabetes and heart disease is associated with a substantially lower life expectancy,” said Emanuele Di Angelantonio from the department of public health and primary care in a paper that appeared in the journal of the American Medical Association.

At the age of 60 years, men with any two of the conditions would on average have 12 years of reduced life expectancy.

Men with three conditions – diabetes, stroke and heart attack (cardiometabolic diseases) – would have 14 years of reduced life expectancy.
For women at the age of 60 years, the corresponding estimates were 13 years and 16 years of reduced life expectancy.

The figures were even more dramatic for patients at a younger age.At the age of 40 years, men with all three cardiometabolic conditions would on average have 23 years of reduced life expectancy and for women, the corresponding estimate was 20 years.”Our results highlight the importance of preventing heart disease and stroke among patients with diabetes, and likewise averting diabetes amongst heart disease patients,” said professor John Danesh, study co-author. Measures aimed at reducing diabetes and heart disease among this group could have a dramatic impact on their lives, the study said.

The following conditions could increase the risk of heart disease ;

- high blood pressure
- abnormal cholesterol and high triglycerides
- lack of exercise 
- poorly controlled blood sugars
- smoking
- obesity

Live healthy!