Taking regular breaks from sitting may lower risk of dying from cancer
People who spend prolonged periods of their day sedentary (sitting or lying down while awake) may have an increased risk of dying from cancer, according to a recent study co-authored by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. While previous studies have looked at the risks from total sedentary time, this study explores whether taking activity breaks throughout the day makes a difference for cancer outcomes.
A Sept. 23 article in Morning Overview covered the study, which was published July 2 in PLOS Medicine.
First author Ziyi Zhou, a postdoctoral research fellow in the lab of Mingyang Song, and colleagues used activity monitoring data from 91,292 UK Biobank participants who were followed for a median of 12.38 years. They found that every additional hour people spent sedentary each day was associated with a 10% higher risk of cancer death, while interrupting sedentary behavior with bouts of activity lowered risk: by 12% for an hour of light physical activity; 8% for 30 minutes of moderate physical activity; and 22% for just five minutes of vigorous activity.
These results suggest that how daily sedentary time is accumulated, not just the total amount, may be important for cancer outcomes, according to the researchers—although they noted that their findings need to be corroborated by intervention studies.
Read the Morning Overview article: Every hour you sit without a break may raise your cancer-death risk
Read the PLOS Medicine study: Accelerometry-measured prolonged and interrupted sedentary behavior and cancer incidence and mortality: A cohort study of 91,292 UK Biobank participants
