Finnish researchers have found that sedentary lifestyle has a negative impact on cardiac health among adolescents. Their study is important because this is a rare approach to analyze a young age group in this context.
Recent World Health Organization reports note that more than 80% of adolescents across the globe have insufficient physical activity per day.
Previous researches found that sedentary lifestyle has been associated with several non-communicable diseases in adults such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.
In adolescents, sedentary time may increase heart size three times more than moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, a paper published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports concludes.
A higher left ventricular mass, which indicates an enlarged or hypertrophied heart, and a reduced left ventricular function, which indicates decreased heart function, may in combination or independently lead to an increased risk of heart failure, myocardial infarction, stroke, and premature cardiovascular death.
„This novel evidence extends our knowledge of the adverse effects of sedentary time on cardiac health. Hence, public health experts, health policymakers, high school administrators and teachers, pediatricians, and caregivers are encouraged to facilitate adolescent participation in physical activity to enable a healthy heart,” says Andrew Agbaje, a physician and clinical epidemiologist at the University of Eastern Finland.”
Source:
Andrew O. Agbaje. Associations of accelerometer‐based sedentary time, light physical activity and moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity with resting cardiac structure and function in adolescents according to sex, fat mass, lean mass, BMI, and hypertensiv. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2023; DOI: 10.1111/sms.14365
ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230412131217.htm>