Spending too much time sitting can increase the risk of stroke, new JAMA research has revealed.
The study published in the the June issue of JAMA Network Open found that adding movement, including low-effort activity such as doing household chores, could help lower the risk of stroke.
The 7,607 participants of an average age of 63 had to wear a hip-mounted accelerometer – a device for objective measurement of physical activity – for a week. During a follow-up period averaging seven years, 246 of them experienced a stroke.
The researchers found that people who sat for more than 13 hours per day during the initial week of motion tracking, were 44 per cent more likely to have a stroke compared with those who had spent less than 11 hours per day sitting still.
Additionally, longer periods of sitting of more than 17 minutes at a time were linked to a higher risk than shorter periods of less than eight minutes.
However, the participants who did moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least 25 minutes a day had a 43 per cent lower risk of stroke.
Light-intensity activities such as vacuuming or doing the dishes for four to five hours daily were also linked to lower risk of stroke by 26 per cent compared with doing the same activities for less than three hours per day.
Adherence to a healthy lifestyle has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of stroke.
A separate meta-analysis of 23 studies found that moderate and high levels of activity were associated with a reduced risk of total stroke, as well as ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke.
High and moderate physical activity was found to lower the risk of stroke incidence or mortality by 25 per cent and 17 per cent respectively, confirming that both occupational and leisure time physical activities could be beneficial in lowering the risk of stroke.
