Study Links Physical Fitness With Less Pronounced Effect of Sedentary Behavior

Researchers at the University of Texas found that physical fitness may lower the adverse health effects associated with excess sedentary behavior.

The detrimental effects of sedentary lifestyle for prolonged period are well known. Sedentary lifestyle is known to increase causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, colon cancer, high blood pressure and anxiety. According to the World Health Organization, 60-85 percent of the people from developed and developing countries lead sedentary lifestyle making it a serious public health concern.

But studies conducted earlier failed to consider the protective impact of fitness that is a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease incidence as well as mortality.

In the current study, researchers analyzed the link between sedentary behavior, physical activity and fitness to obesity and metabolic biomarkers in nearly 1304 men from Cooper Clinic, Texas, between 1981 and 2012.

The participants self-reported the sedentary time that included the time spent in watching television and the time spent driving, on a 1982 survey. Using a treadmill test during the medical examination, the researchers determined the participants' fitness level.

The study showed that, "more sedentary time was significantly associated with higher levels of systolic blood pressure, and total cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as lower levels of HDL, the "good" cholesterol. It was also associated with BMI, waist circumference, and body fat percentage."

But when factors for fitness were controlled, the researchers found that excess sedentary time was strongly linked with high triglyceride. However, sedentary time was linked with metabolic syndrome, but high fitness level was linked with reduced adiposity and metabolic measures.

"Although our findings suggest the need to encourage achieving higher levels of fitness through meeting physical activity guidelines to decrease metabolic risk," they conclude, "The effects of reducing sedentary time on cardiometabolic risk biomarkers warrant further longitudinal exploration using objective measurement."

The study appears in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.