“Healthy Monday is our way of kicking off the week with useful health tips, information or news put together by our team of Health Consultants.”
A recent study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania and published in the article Diabetologia revealed that living a sedentary life could increase your risk of developing type-2 diabetes. It was also noted that being physically active, for about 20 minutes per day actually helps to prevent type-2 diabetes.
A previous study by Cambridge University published in an earlier edition of our “Healthy Monday” column also showed that just a daily 20 Minutes brisk walk can reduce early death by 30%. Click here if you missed it!
Data collected from participants’ in the Diabetes Prevention Program Study, which included over 3200 subjects were analyzed. The researchers looked at not only the amount of physical activity of the participants on a daily basis, but also the amount of time the participants were staying sedentary each day by not being active at all – such as times spend in watching TV.
The results of the research team showed that being sedentary could significantly increase your risk of diabetes! Specifically, for each additional hour spent watching TV, there was a 3.4 percent increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes.
According to Senior Author, Dr. Kriska:
“It is likely that a lifestyle intervention program that incorporates a specific goal of decreasing sitting time would result in greater changes in sitting and likely more health improvements than are demonstrated here. Finally, these results should inform future intervention efforts that already focus on goals of increasing activity and reducing weight to also consider emphasizing sitting less.”
So, in reality, avoidance of a sedentary life by performing moderate physical activities goes a long way in helping to prevent type-2 diabetes. Some of the moderate exercises you may want to include to your daily routine if you are interested in preventing type-2 diabetes are: Brisk walking, Swimming, Bicycle Riding, House Cleaning such as mowing the lawn or vacuuming etc.
Have a healthy week!