Study Says Sitting for More than 30 Minutes Linked to Cancer Death Risk

JAKARTA - Sitting for too long without a break is now associated with more serious health risks. A study found that sitting or lying awake for more than 30 minutes at a time each day is associated with an increased risk of death from cancer.

The findings, reported by The Guardian, come from a study of more than 90,000 people monitored for about a decade. Researchers found an increased risk with every additional hour of continuous inactivity.

However, researchers have also found a simple way that is associated with a reduced risk. Long sitting time can be broken up with short physical activity, such as getting up every half an hour, taking a short walk in the office, or doing light housework.

Dr Frederick Ho, lead author of the study from the University of Glasgow, said the study data showed sitting for more than 30 minutes at a time was specifically linked to a higher cancer risk.

"The good news is that breaking up sitting time with an activity as simple as a short walk can be protective," Ho said.

According to Ho, health guidelines have so far emphasized moderate or heavy intensity exercise. In fact, the findings of the study show that light movement should not be ignored.

"In the future, clinical trials will help us move beyond general advice and develop personalized strategies to break up sitting time," he said.

The study, published in Plos Medicine, examined the impact of sedentary behavior in daily life. Sedentary behavior means activities with very little body movement when a person is awake, such as sitting for a long time or lying down without any physical activity.

Sitting or lying down for too long while awake has previously been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer. However, researchers say it is not yet known whether the way the inactive time is accumulated also affects health.

The research team analyzed data from wearable devices of more than 91,000 participants of the UK Biobank, a long-term health database in the UK. They were followed for an average of 12 years.

The results, prolonged inactivity for more than 30 minutes is associated with cancer risk. Each additional hour of prolonged inactivity every day is associated with a 10 percent increase in the risk of dying from cancer.

The Guardian also reported that replacing inactive time with physical activity can help reduce a number of cancer risks. The so-called beneficial activities do not have to be heavy. Slow walking and housework are also on the list.

Replacing one hour of sedentary time each day with light activity, such as ironing or washing dishes, was associated with a 12 percent lower risk of cancer death.

Replacing 30 minutes of inactivity each day with moderate physical activity, such as walking at a normal pace, was associated with an 8 percent lower risk.

The reduction in risk was greater when five minutes of inactivity was replaced with five minutes of vigorous physical activity every day. In the study, the risk of death from cancer was recorded as 22 percent lower.

Even so, this finding still needs to be read carefully. The study is observational, so it cannot prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship.

Prof Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University who was not involved in the research, said the findings were interesting. However, he assessed that further research was still needed.