Sitting too long increases the risk of cancer, how come?

A sedentary lifestyle has been linked to a number of health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases that can pose a risk of death. Recently, a study conducted an observation that showed that sitting too much or staying still can increase the risk of cancer.

Sitting too often can increase the risk of cancer

In fact, many studies have shown evidence of the impact of inactive body movements on daily living patterns.

An analysis published in 2015 once showed an association between duration of stay and death from cancer with a hazard ratio of 1.13.

Unfortunately, this analysis relies only on data reported by the participants themselves. Thus, the results may not be accurate due to measurement errors.

To that end, a group of researchers from the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas also conducted observations that focused on the relationship between sedentary or inactive lifestyle and cancer risk in people over 45 years of age.

Researchers collected data from 8002 participants who were also involved in a larger, longer-term study called REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke). At the time of recruitment, all of them were not diagnosed with cancer.

In order to avoid errors or bias in the data, participants were asked to use an accelerometer. This tool must always be attached to the waist during activities outside of bedtime for seven days in a row.

The accelerometer will accurately measure how often participants move and stay still. This measurement was carried out for five years. Of course, researchers also consider factors such as age, race, gender, and the presence of other diseases.

As a result, participants who sat the most or were silent had an 82% higher risk of cancer when compared to participants who were more active.

Meanwhile, participants who left 30 minutes to do activities with light intensity lowered their risk by 8%. Then participants who did 30 minutes of moderate to high intensity activity had a 31% lower risk of cancer.

The importance of an active lifestyle to prevent disease

Cancer is still one of the biggest concerns in the world of health. In fact, according to data from WHO's Globocan, there were more than 200,000 cases of cancer deaths in Indonesia in 2018.

Unfortunately at the same time, the sedentary lifestyle (not involving a lot of physical activity) among the community still tends to be high. In Indonesia itself, the results of Basic Health Research show that people who lack physical activity are increasing in number.

In 2013, 26.1% of the total population lived a sedentary lifestyle. The number jumped to 33.5% in 2018.

In fact, it is widely known that lifestyle can have a bad impact on the body. Spending the day sitting for long periods of time without exercising can not only increase your risk of deadly diseases like cancer, but also make you more prone to the problem of being overweight.

If you are lazy too often, your body will burn fewer calories. The strength and endurance of the muscles may also decrease due to less use. In addition, this also has an impact on decreasing metabolic ability and hormonal imbalance in the body.

Sedentari lifestyle is also closely related to a decreased immune system. When this happens, your body will become more prone to inflammation. The longer you maintain a sedentary lifestyle, the higher your risk of developing disease.

Therefore, before health problems hit you, it is better to immediately start to try to adopt a more active lifestyle and not be silent too often.

Start being more active to lower the risk of cancer

Granted, sometimes the temptation to sit and laze on a comfortable mattress or sofa is hard to avoid. However, of course you also have to make various efforts in order to keep your body healthy.

For some people, starting to exercise regularly feels burdensome. In fact, being active isn't always about how hard you exercise. The purpose of an active lifestyle is to move around the day more often.

You can start by doing household chores that will get your body moving a lot like sweeping and mopping, washing, or gardening.

In addition, to help reduce your lifestyle for a while, give it a break when you have been sitting too long. Cut the time to sit after an hour by standing and walking for five minutes.

Some other ways you can also do this are by standing in the train, taking the phone while walking lightly, and hanging up remote The TV is out of reach so you will be forced to walk back and forth when you want to change channels.

If you are used to it, you can insert exercise into your daily activities slowly. Half an hour that used to only be spent watching TV, now dedicate it to doing jogging or take a light walk around the housing complex.

Not only being more active, a number of other healthy lifestyles must also be done if you want to avoid the risk of cancer. Some of them are eating healthy foods, quitting smoking, and routine health checks every six months or once a year.