Researchers say sitting for prolonged periods is detrimental to heart health. 

• Researchers report that any activity is more beneficial to heart health than sitting, including sleeping.
• Experts say daily activity can help with blood pressure, glucose levels, and muscle strength.
• They say that even taking 5-minute walking breaks during the workday can be beneficial.

That’s the theme of a new study that states any activity — even sleeping — is better for the heart than sitting.

Supported by the British Heart Foundation and published today in the European Heart Journal, the study’s authors say their research is the first to assess how different movement patterns throughout the 24-hour day are linked to heart health.

The researchers say it’s the first evidence to emerge from the international Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep 

— all diseases of the heart and circulation — is the number one cause of mortality globally, the researchers point out. In 2021, it was responsible for one in three deaths (18 million) worldwide, with coronary heart disease the single biggest killer.

How the exercise and heart health study was conducted

In their study, University College London scientists analyzed data from six studies, encompassing 15,246 people from five countries, to see how movement across the day is associated with heart health.

Each participant wore a device on their thigh measuring their activity throughout the 24-hour day and had their heart health measured.

Heart health was measured using six outcomes: body-mass index (BMI), waist circumference, HDL cholesterol, HDL-to-total cholesterol ratio, triglycerides, and HbA1c.

The study identified behaviors making up a typical 24-hour day, with time spent doing moderate-vigorous activity providing the most benefit to heart health, followed by light activity, standing, and sleeping. All were compared with the adverse impact of sedentary behavior.

The team modeled what would happen if an individual changed various amounts of one behavior for another each day for a week to estimate the effect on heart health for each scenario. They reported that when replacing sedentary behavior, as little as 5 minutes of moderate-vigorous activity had a noticeable effect on heart health.

How activity helps cardiovascular health

The researchers said for a 54-year-old woman with an average body mass index of 26.5, a 30-minute change translated into a 0.64 decrease in BMI, which is a difference of 2.4%.

Replacing 30 minutes of daily sitting or lying time with moderate or vigorous exercise could also translate into a 2.5 cm (2.7%) decrease in waist circumference or a 1.33 mmol/mol (3.6%) decrease in glycated haemoglobin.

“The big takeaway from our research is that while small changes to how you move can have a positive effect on heart health, intensity of movement matters,” Jo Blodgett, PhD, the study’s lead author and a researchers at the UCL Surgery & Interventional Science and the Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health, said in a statement.

Blodgett added that the most beneficial change the team observed was replacing sitting with moderate to vigorous activity, which could be a run, a brisk walk, or stair climbing.

“Basically any activity that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster, even for a minute or two,” she said.

Although the authors said the findings can’t infer causality between movement behaviors and cardiovascular outcomes, this research does contribute to a growing body of evidence linking moderate to vigorous physical activity over 24 hours with improved body fat metrics.

They also said more long-term studies will be crucial to better understanding the associations between movement and cardiovascular outcomes.

How to increase your daily activities

Researchers said that although time spent doing vigorous activity was the quickest way to improve heart health, there are ways for people of all abilities to benefit. It’s just that the lower the intensity of the activity, the longer the time is required to start having a tangible benefit.

They said using a standing desk for a few hours a day instead of a sitting desk, for example, is a change over a relatively large amount of time but is also one that could be integrated into a working routine fairly easily.

The least active subjects were also found to gain the greatest benefit from becoming more active.

“A key novelty of the ProPASS consortium is the use of wearable devices that better differentiate between types of physical activity and posture, allowing us to estimate the health effects of even subtle variations with greater precision,” Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, the joint senior author of the study and a professor the Charles Perkins Centre and Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, said in a statement.

Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, an interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in California, told Medical News Today there are many simple ways to add more steps to one’s day.

“Take scheduled breaks throughout the day to take a short five-minute walk, either around the house or around the office; taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking farther from the store and walking, and walking more briskly when shopping,” he advised.

Chen said using stairs has multiple positive effects.

“Walking upstairs is harder exercise than walking on level ground. That’s because not only are you moving your body, you’re moving it against gravity, and you’re essentially pushing yourself up and out,” he said. “You are also building your muscles in your lower body, strengthening your core, and your lower back.”

“Climbing stairs is more difficult, you’re doing more exercise, and more exercise is better for you and your heart. We think that climbing stairs actually gives you three times as much exercise as the same amount of time walking on the ground,” Chen noted.

Activity helps blood pressure and blood sugar

Dr. Yu-Ming Ni, a cardiologist and lipidologist at MemorialCare Heart and Vascular Institute at Orange Coast Medical Center in California, told Medical News Today that more activity leads to better blood pressure control. That, in turn, puts less strain on the heart over time and can prevent the development of heart failure or a heart attack.

“Muscles are also an important consumer of blood sugar and physical activity improves blood sugar levels and can reduce the risk for diabetes,” Ni said. “Since diabetes is a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes, any effort to prevent diabetes will ultimately lead to less risk of heart disease.”

Ni noted that the study shows even small improvements in physical activity can impacts blood sugar and blood pressure.

“Remember that small changes done over years can have a lasting impact on health,” Ni said. “It may not seem like much to walk 5 minutes every hour of desk work, but this can add up over the work day. In an 8-hour work day, this amounts to 40 minutes of physical activity. Add in a 15-minute walk during your lunch break and you suddenly have almost an hour of additional physical activity each work day.”

Research is important for the United States

Dr. J. Wes Ulm, a medical researcher and bioinformatics expert who works as an analyst for the National Institutes of Health, told Medical News Today the research “at first glance may not appear to point to much in the way of groundbreaking recommendations,” it’s signifcant. Especially for people in the United States.

“The U.S., unfortunately, has borne the brunt of a slow-burn health crisis particularly over the past decade, with a trend of steadily declining life expectancy that markedly accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic but — unlike most of the rest of the world — has failed to right itself,” he said.

Ulm said the United States now has one of the lowest life expectancies for any developed nation, along with worse outcome measures for a variety of other core public health metrics.

He added that more movement helps, especially with chronic disease.

“The prevalence and severity of such chronic illnesses, in turn, are profoundly exacerbated by physical inactivity, obesity, and poor diet, the first (and by implication the second) of which is specifically addressed by the research reported in this study,” Ulm said.

How technology can help with daily activities

Dr. Bradley Serwer is a cardiologist and chief medical officer at VitalSolution, a company that offers cardiovascular and anesthesiology services to hospitals nationwide.

Serwer told Medical News Today that the study’s findings reaffirms why we see so much technology tracking movement.

“We have seen many updates and advancements over the years. Smart watches which track movement, steps, flights of stairs, heart rate, heart rate variability, etc. have been a valuable tool. Not only do they track your statistics, they also can serve as a reminder when you are sedentary for too long,” he said.

Serwer added that standing desks have become popular to promote constant movement.

“Exercise throughout the workday can help decrease professional burnout, can improve mood and help with mental clarity,” he said. “My tips for long term success include finding a physical activity that you enjoy that you will stick to. Find an exercise partner to help motivate you. Record your workout either on a smart watch or an old fashion written log. These tips will help motivate and encourage you to continue with permanent lifestyle changes.”

Breast Cancer Awareness

Wondering when to start or how often to get screening mammograms? 

Ask your doctor when you should get a mammogram.

Other than skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women. Mammograms are the best way to find breast cancer early, when it is easier to treat and before it is big enough to feel or cause symptoms.

Kinds of Breast Cancer

The most common kinds of breast cancer are—

• Invasive ductal carcinoma. The cancer cells begin in the ducts and then grow outside the ducts into other parts of the breast tissue. Invasive cancer cells can also spread, or metastasize, to other parts of the body.
• Invasive lobular carcinoma. Cancer cells begin in the lobules and then spread from the lobules to the breast tissues that are close by. These invasive cancer cells can also spread to other parts of the body.

What Are the Symptoms?

There are different symptoms of breast cancer, and some people have no symptoms at all. Symptoms can include—

• Any change in the size or the shape of the breast.
• Pain in any area of the breast.
• Nipple discharge other than breast milk (including blood).
• A new lump in the breast or underarm.

If you have any signs that worry you, see your doctor right away.

How Can I Lower My Risk?

You can do things to help lower your breast cancer risk.

• Keep a healthy weight and exercise regularly.
• Choose not to drink alcohol, or drink alcohol in moderation.
• If you are taking hormone replacement therapy or birth control pills, ask your doctor about the risks.
• Breastfeed your children, if possible.

Fast Facts About Breast Cancer

• Each year in the United States, about 240,000 women get breast cancer and 42,000 women die from the disease.
• Men also get breast cancer, but it is not very common. About 1 out of every 100 breast cancers diagnosed in the United States is found in a man.
• Most breast cancers are found in women who are 50 years old or older, but breast cancer also affects younger women.

How is a mammogram done?

You will stand in front of a special X-ray machine. A technologist will place your breast on a plastic plate. Another plate will firmly press your breast from above. The plates will flatten the breast, holding it still while the X-ray is being taken. You will feel some pressure. The steps are repeated to make a side view of the breast. The other breast will be X-rayed in the same way. You will then wait while the technologist checks the X-rays to make sure the pictures do not need to be redone. Keep in mind that the technologist cannot tell you the results of your mammogram. Each woman’s mammogram may look a little different because all breasts are a little different.

All signs point to a rise in Covid

Covid hospitalizations, deaths and wastewater data — among other indicators — are all increasing as the U.S. heads into fall.

Signs in the U.S. continue to point to a rise in Covid activity as fall approaches.

Hospitalizations are rising. Deaths have ticked up. Wastewater samples are picking up the virus, as are labs across the country.

“Every single one of those things is showing us that we have increased rates of Covid transmission in our communities,” said Jodie Guest, a professor of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta.

While individual cases have become more difficult to track as states are no longer required to report numbers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at-home test use has increased, experts have turned to other tools to track the virus.

Hospitalizations, for example, are “a very good indicator of severity of Covid disease,” Guest said.

The number of hospitalized Covid patients has continued to rise after hitting an all-time low in late June. The week ending Aug. 26, the most recent date for which data is available, there were just over 17,400 people hospitalized with Covid, up nearly 16% from the previous week, according to the CDC.

The increase comes even as hospital testing protocols have changed. At the height of the pandemic, every patient admitted to the hospital was tested for Covid, whether they had symptoms or not.

“We’re now only testing people who are symptomatic,” said Guest, who added that this makes it difficult to directly compare hospitalization numbers to what was seen previously in the pandemic. Current numbers may be missing asymptomatic cases and therefore be lower than earlier ones.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said that at his hospital system, 21 patients are hospitalized with Covid. Earlier in the summer, it ranged from 10 to 15 patients, he said, so while the numbers have gone up, it’s nothing like what the hospital saw last winter, when more than 100 patients were hospitalized with Covid.

Emergency room visits with a Covid diagnosis in the U.S. have been on the rise since early July. The week ending Aug. 19 saw 2.3% of ER visits with a Covid diagnosis, up from 0.5% the week ending July 1, according to the CDC.

Wastewater samples are also showing an increase in Covid.

“The wastewater is giving us a pretty clear picture that there has been, you know, quite an uptick in cases in these communities that we’re monitoring recently,” said Marlene Wolfe, an assistant professor of environmental health at Emory University and program director for WastewaterSCAN, which monitors 171 wastewater treatment sites in 34 states.

“We are in a period of higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater right now, and that’s associated with an increase in the number of cases in the community,” Wolfe said, referring to the virus that causes Covid.

Deaths appear to be up slightly, after a summer in which weekly totals hovered under 600 — and occasionally dipped below 500 — for much of June and July. The week ending Aug. 19 saw 636 deaths, according to the CDC.

Other signs of increased Covid activity are easy for the general public to spot.

“When you know multiple people who are currently experiencing symptoms of Covid or tested positive of Covid, that’s another great marker to recognize how much of it there is in your community,” Guest said. “We also see Covid tests being absent on their shelves in Walgreens and CVS and other places as well, because people have more transmission right now.”

Is the BA.2.86 variant to blame?

Experts say no. While there are a slew of variants in circulation in the U.S., BA.2.86 remains very rare. As of Aug. 30, the CDC said that the variant had been detected in four states: in Michigan, New York, Ohio and Virginia.

Instead, the current increases in cases and hospitalizations are likely due to the XBB subvariants, the CDC says. Those include subvariants called EG.5 (which accounted for 21.5% of new cases for the week ending Sept. 2) and FL.1.5.1 (14.5% of new cases).

What’s more, the BA.2.86 variant — dubbed “Pirola” by some on social media — may not be as bad as scientists initially feared.

“Just looking at the virus, structurally, it looks scary with all the mutations compared to XBB.1.5, which the vaccine was based on,” Chin-Hong said. XBB.1.5 is the subvariant that the new boosters, coming out later this month, were designed to target.

But new research shows that people who had been infected with an XBB subvariant in the past six months performed well against BA.2.86, Chin-Hong said. That suggests that the new boosters would be able to fend off this variant, even if it does become dominant, he added.

How can people protect themselves and others?

The advice to protect against Covid remains the same, including masking, staying home when sick, getting tested for Covid if exposed or symptomatic, and staying up to date on vaccines.

“If you’re in a crowded situation, recognizing the odds are that someone in that room probably does have Covid-19 at this point in time and so masking is a great way to protect yourself and to protect others that you’re going to be around later,” Guest said.

Chin-Hong advised carrying around a mask and bring it out for risky situations, like while using public transit or at the airport.

He also suggested that people have a plan to get therapies like Paxlovid or remesdivir if they test positive, particularly older or immune-comprosmised individuals who are at higher risk for complications.

The CDC also notes that improving ventilation indoors can help protect against infection. That can involve opening windows, turning on fans and using air filters to clean the air.

The Food and Drug Administration and the CDC are expected to sign off on new Covid boosters in the next few weeks, which target one of the XBB variants.

Guest said people should wait for the new boosters to become available. “But we want people to get that booster when it comes out,” she said.

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