Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) aimed to determine whether meeting physical activity guidelines or having high age-specific cardiorespiratory fitness would reduce the adverse effect of prolonged sitting on cardiovascular risk factors for seniors.
Cardiorespiratory fitness is the ability of the heart and lungs to provide the working muscles with oxygenated blood for a prolonged period and determine the level of fitness, which goes downhill with age. Cardiorespiratory fitness is an important health indicator that can predict cardiovascular disease mortality and can be improved by increasing both the intensity and amount of exercise.
While the average American adult sits for between 9-11 hours a day, the NTNU research found that the participants who were in the least sedentary third of the study still spent between 12-13 hours per day in sedentary behavior. The most sedentary of all participants were sedentary for up to 15 hours a day.
