Long periods of sitting tied to higher risk of stroke

Sitting too much can boost your risk of a stroke, but adding more movement — even low-effort activity such as doing household chores — may help lower that risk, according to a study in the June 1, 2022, issue of JAMA Network Open.

The study involved 7,607 adults who wore a hip-mounted accelerometer (a device that records how fast you move) for a week. Their average age was 63. During a follow-up period averaging 7.4 years, 246 of the participants experienced a stroke.

People who sat for 13 or more hours per day during the initial week of motion tracking were 44% more likely to have a stroke compared with those who'd spent less than 11 hours per day sitting still. In addition, longer bouts of sitting (more than 17 minutes at a time) were linked to a higher risk than shorter bouts (less than eight minutes).

Not surprisingly, people who did moderate-to-vigorous physical activity for at least 25 minutes a day had a 43% lower risk of stroke. But doing light-intensity physical activity (such as vacuuming or doing the dishes) for four to five hours daily lowered stroke risk by 26% compared with doing less than three hours per day.

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