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 Researchers found that older people who watched more than five hours
of TV a day and were physically active for three hours or less each
week were more likely than their more active peers to have developed
trouble walking at the end of a 10-year follow-up.
Reducing sedentary time along with increasing physical activity may
be necessary to maintain function in older age, the authors write in
Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.
“If you perform low-level physical activity, like less than three
hours a week, and you sit, especially sit watching television more
than five hours a day, your risk of mobility loss is over three
times greater than people who report high levels of physical
activity and very low levels of sitting,” lead author Loretta
DiPietro told Reuters Health in a phone interview.
“Now keep in mind, when I say physical activity, that doesn't mean
going to the gym and working out necessarily. We combined all levels
of light, moderate and vigorous activity. It's the whole volume,”
said DiPietro, a researcher at the George Washington University’s
Milken Institute School of Public Health in Washington, DC.
Walking, doing errands and moving about, housework, and walking the
dog all count as physical activity, she said.
The researchers analyzed data from the nationwide NIH-AARP Diet and
Health Study, which began in 1995, when participants were between 50
and 71 years old and filled out questionnaires about their medical
histories, diet and physical activity.
Roughly 10 years later, follow-up information was available for more
than 134,000 participants who were healthy at baseline and answered
another survey.
At the end of the study period, about 30 percent of the participants
reported having some degree of mobility disability, such as having
difficulty walking at a speed greater than 2 miles per hour or not
being able to walk at all.
People who were the most physically active at the beginning of the
study period, defined as active more than 7 hours each week, and who
sat for less than 6 hours per day, did not have any excess risk of
mobility disability by the end of the study period.
Among the most active adults, even those who sat for more than 7
hours per day also had a lower risk of mobility disability than the
least-active adults who were also less sedentary.
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In all groups, as TV viewing time increased, so did the likelihood
of a walking disability. People who watched five or more hours of TV
per day at the start of the study period, for example, had a 65
percent greater risk than those who watched the least TV of
reporting a mobility disability by the end of the study.
“You know, what we've done in our culture is replace light-intensity
activities with automation,” DiPietro said. For instance, the
internet means we don't need to go shopping anymore. “We can order
from Amazon, we can order groceries, etc,” she said. “We don't walk
down the hallway anymore to talk to someone, we text them.”
One strategy she and her colleagues propose is adding those things
back. “Go down the hallway and talk. Climb up a flight of stairs to
go talk to someone or to deliver something,” she said.
“If you have to sit at a desk, every hour, you set a timer and you
get up and you walk around.” DiPietro also recommends using a
standing desk at work or for computer time.
“If you're watching TV for extended periods of time, stand up during
commercials, and march in place or walk around the house,” she said.
This study adds encouraging evidence that as people spent more time
being physically active, the lower the chance they experienced
harmful effects from being sedentary,” said Dorothy Dunlap, a
researcher at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in
Chicago who wasn’t involved in the research.
Older adults who are physically active are less likely to develop
serious conditions including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high
blood pressure and obesity, Dunlap said by email.
“People who are physically active are less likely to become
depressed and are less likely to die prematurely,” she added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2gqqHjn Journals of Gerontology: Medical
Sciences, online August 30, 2017.
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