Abstract
Myint and Welch fail to do justice to the first UK-wide recommendations for physical activity.1 2 They neglect to mention the most novel aspect of these recommendations—that long periods of being sedentary should be reduced at all ages. Sedentary behaviour is not a lack of physical activity but an umbrella term for behaviours where sitting or lying is the dominant mode of posture and energy expenditure is very low. It is an independent risk factor for health and wellbeing. In other words, long periods of sitting have deleterious effects on health and wellbeing even in people who meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | e2451 |
Number of pages | 1 |
Journal | British Medical Journal |
Volume | 344 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2012 |
Keywords
- healthy ageing
- sedentary behaviour
- physical activity