PhD student Travis Saunders was interviewed by Medical Daily for an article, “Is Sitting The New Smoking? A Workday Of Inactivity Could Offset Any Benefits Of Exercise,” that was recently published online.
From the article:
Travis Saunders, Ph.D. student and certified exercise physiologist at the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, says the medical community could do well to reexamine what classifies a lifestyle as sedentary.
“Up until very recently, if you exercised for 60 minutes or more a day, you were considered physically active, case closed,” he said. “Now a consistent body of emerging research suggests it is entirely possible to meet current physical activity guidelines while still being incredibly sedentary, and that sitting increases your risk of death and disease, even if you are getting plenty of physical activity.”
As it turns out, people who exercise end up sitting just as much as their sedentary cohorts — much like two people who both smoke the same number of cigarettes daily. Even if one exercises, the underlying problem is still the cigarettes.
“Smoking is bad for you even if you get lots of exercise,” Saunders said. “So is sitting too much.”
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