“Older adults should break up prolonged periods of being sedentary with light activity when physically possible, or at least with standing ”
The message is to sit less as prolonged sedentary behaviour is associated with many poor health and functional outcomes in older adults such as cardiovascular mortality, diabetes, some types of cancer and metabolic dysfunction. Worryingly some research has shown that spending large amounts of time being sedentary may increase the risk of some health outcomes, even among people who are active at the recommended levels.
The sit less message is particularly pertinent to older adults as sedentary behaviour increases with age. Yet this is one behaviour that takes very little effort and no specialist equipment or time to change. Whilst the guidelines didn’t specify time limits to sitting one review of the current scientific evidence recommended taking “an active break from sitting every 30 minutes”. Active break hasn’t been defined but it is thought one or two minutes of movement should be sufficient. i.e during a TV ad break walk around the room a couple of times (or in my case, go make a cup of tea and do a couple of heel raises whilst you wait for the kettle to boil).
This recommendation is such an easy win for most people and there are very few people who couldn’t easily start to achieve this. One of my clients used to set an alarm in another room every 40 minutes so they would have to get up and go turn it off!
Professor David Dunstan of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia has a fantastic analogy “Breaking up sitting time engages your muscles and bones, and gives all our bodily functions a boost – a bit like revving a car’s engine,” says Professor Dunstan.
If you are interested in classes then I run Strength and Balance classes in the Chichester area and also do 1:1 sessions. If you are not in my area you can look on the Later Life Training Instructor directory to find someone near you who may run classes.
The post Sit Less (Minimise Sedentary time) – Physical Activity Guidelines 2019 appeared first on Whole Life Fitness.
Helen
Having worked in IT in London for 15 years I was made redundant in 2009. I had trained as a gym instructor whilst working and decided I would rather spend the rest of my career doing something I loved than look for another job in IT. I furthered my qualifications with a Certificate in Advanced Personal Training from the highly regarded Premier Training. Many personal trainers are generalists covering all areas of fitness but I took the decision to specialise in the over-50s and therefore went on to do a CYQ Award in Functional Training for the Independent Older Adult Level 3. My focus is on overall health rather than fitness. I believe that making small changes can have a long term positive effect on health and well-being.
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