The more you sit, the greater the health risk

For patients hospitalised with chest pain, the amount of time they spend sedentary afterward is linked to a greater risk for more heart problems and death within a year.

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That's the key finding of a new peer-reviewed study my colleagues and I published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

We asked 609 emergency room patients experiencing chest pain — average age of 62 — to wear a physical activity monitor for 30 days after leaving the hospital.

The monitor measured movements, sitting time and sleep throughout the day. We then followed patients for one year to track whether they had additional heart problems or died.

We found that patients who averaged more than 15 hours of sedentary behaviour daily — which does not include sleep — were more than twice as likely to experience more heart problems or die in the year after discharge than patients who accrued a daily average of 12 hours of sedentary time.

But our goal wasn't just to document that sitting is harmful. It was also to figure out what patients should do instead to lower their risk.

We found that replacing 30 minutes of sedentary time with moderate or vigorous movement, like brisk walking or running, was most beneficial. It was associated with a 62 per cent lower risk of experiencing more heart problems or dying in the year after discharge.