Daily Exercise May Offset Otherwise Sedentary Lifestyle. Remaining sedentary for more than 12 hours daily was linked with a higher risk of death than being sedentary for 8 hours—but a little more than 20 minutes of exercise closed the gap, according to a review of 4 prospective cohort studies involving almost 12 000 participants aged 50 years or older. There was no association between sedentary time and mortality risk for people who were largely inactive but engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity for more than 22 minutes a day, based on accelerometer data.
Moreover, higher levels of exercise were associated with a lower mortality risk regardless of time spent inactive per day. Small amounts of moderate to vigorous physical activity “may be an effective strategy to ameliorate the mortality risk from high sedentary time,” the researchers wrote in The British Journal of Sports Medicine.
JAMA. Published online November 8, 2023. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.21871
Emily Harris
Medical News in Brief