Product News and Recalls

Study says sitting too much shortens lifespan

According to a report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, sitting too much represents a serious health threat.

The report cites a study in the online journal BMJ Open, which concluded that sitting for less than three hours a day could extend your life by as much as two years. Researchers found that limiting TV viewing in a sitting position to less than two hours every day, in itself, might extend life by almost 1.4 years.

The report says that lengthy periods of inactivity have long been an acknowledged risk factor for stroke.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a sedentary lifestyle can contribute to the formation of blood clots in the body’s deep veins. Those clots can be deadly if they break off and travel to the brain or lungs.

Other risk factors include a family history of blood clots, pregnancy and use of birth control pills. But while all birth control pills can increase the risk of blood clots, a number of studies have shown that pills with drospirenone increase that risk up to three times more than other oral contraceptives on the market.

Birth control pills with drospirenone include Yaz, Yasmin, Beyaz and Ocella.

The report quotes Peter Katzmarzyk, PhD., associate executive director for population science at Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University System as saying: “Sitting is a risk factor, not a disease. It’s comparable to obesity, and it’s almost to the level of smoking,” he says.

The study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 2005-2006 and 2009-2010, measuring how much time U.S. adults spent watching TV and sitting down. Researchers also analyzed five studies of 167,000 adults that looked at sitting time and deaths from all causes, and estimated the theoretical effects that a factor such as sitting would have at a population level.

According to the report, American adults spend on average about 55% of their time being sedentary, or inactive.

Patients should consult their doctors before making any changes in their medication. A consultation with a Beyaz lawyer is also important if there are significant injuries while on Beyaz or similar birth control pills.

See the story here:

https://www.ajc.com/health/sitting-too-much-may-1475648.html