Stand Up for Better Health
By Kayla Gomes, Physical Therapy, 2017
There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that to live long, healthy lives we should turn off Netflix and get up more. Luckily, two studies have postulated that getting up more may literally be just that: standing.
Scientists measure longevity and the aging process by measuring the lengths of telomeres. Telomeres, the caps at the end of DNA strands found in all cells, shorten with age. There have been numerous studies about what may quicken the shortening of telomeres, thus speeding up aging. Some well known factors include chronic stress, smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle.
Longer telomeres are associated with a physically active lifestyle. The problem is, most of the population isn’t physically active. An article recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine examines how telomere length changed over six months in a group of sedentary, overweight adults. The group was asked to increase their daily walking distance as well as their overall activity level while decreasing their sitting time. This study is interesting because it is one of few examining the affects a lifestyle change can have on telomere length.
The results were surprising. The only individuals who had significantly longer telomeres were individuals who spent the least amount of time sitting, regardless of time spent exercising. Those who increased physical activity had no significant change in telomere length. The lack of significance between exercise and an increased telomere length is contradictory to what previous studies have shown. Has all our time spent at the gym been a complete waste when we could’ve watched Orange is the New Black at a stand up desk instead? Not quite.
Exploring a possible negative or positive association between sedentary behavior and mortality, Dr. Peter Katzmarzyk, a professor of public health at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, examined a pool of over 16,000 fitness surveys taken by 18–90 year olds. Referencing these surveys and following mortality rates after 12 years Katzmarzyk determined that there was an association between a greater amount of time standing and a lower risk of mortality.
So what ruins our dreams of never going to the gym again? This association only made a difference in individuals who had an inactive lifestyle (those doing literally nothing for 75% or more of the day.) For those who were physically active, standing time didn’t make a difference because their risk of mortality was already lower due to their activity level. Katzmarzyk’s study simply reiterates that doing any amount of activity, even standing, is better than nothing; but to reap the benefits (and decreased mortality risk) of a healthy lifestyle one has to be, well, healthy.
Those who are sedentary need to consider changing their lifestyle. Obesity, heart disease, and diabetes derived from their habits put them at serious risk for premature mortality. As new evidence has shown, simply standing is better than nothing; however, a monumental amount of evidence both old and forthcoming show that being physically active increases both quality and quantity of life more than standing alone can. So instead of watching Frank Underwood run on House of Cards, you should probably grab your running shoes, and get out there yourself.
