Dutch scientists concluded that intensive physical workloads lead to a reduction in life expectancy by as much as 18% compared to the lifespan of those who spend the whole working day at the computer. But there is a way out – doing sports in your free time 150 minutes a week; in contrast to heavy physical labor, such activity does not exhaust the body but strengthens it.
Every day we hear about the dangers of sedentary work and a sedentary lifestyle, but Dutch scientists who studied a large body of data on the longevity of people of different professions came to the conclusion that people whose work involves serious physical activity during the day die before those, who spend the working day in a sitting position. Perhaps it’s time to thank the office chair, the opportunity to go to lunch and play sports in the morning or in the evening – and live a long and happy life instead of dragging weights and dying from morning till night.
The results obtained by a group of Dutch physiologists revealed a “paradox of physical activity”: apparently, loads are harmful to the body, if they are part of the work, but are useful in their free time. People whose professional activities are associated with physical activity die 18% earlier than those who are busy with work that does not require stress.
One of the authors of the work, Peter Coenen (Pieter Coenen) does not exclude that the paradox is explained by the difference in the types of load that people get at work and during sports. However, other scientists believe that the difference in life expectancy can be explained not by the quantity and quality of physical exertion, but by other characteristics of the way of life – smoking, frequency of alcohol consumption, quality of diet.
Physical labor, as a rule, is paid poorly, and people engaged in it, less likely to lead a healthy lifestyle and eat worse. Cohenen and his colleagues can not be reproached for lack of data: they studied 17 previously published studies, covering in total the data on 200 thousand people. Most of the studies studied took into account factors such as smoking and drinking – but not all.
But Cohen insists that the factor of physical activity is no less important. “Going out for a half-hour run, you for these half an hour disperse the heart, then rest and the rest of the day feel fine. Physical work is another story: you are exposed to loads of eight hours a day with limited rest periods. You lift weights, do a lot of energy-consuming movements in a row. We believe that such activity is too difficult for the cardiovascular system. “
WHO recommends physical activity of medium or high intensity for 2.5 hours per week to maintain health and reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases; heavy physical labor is about forty hours of activity per week. But people who are engaged in manual labor, rarely have the desire, strength, and opportunity to play sports in their spare time:
“They are between two alone. Loads at work are not useful for their body and even, perhaps, are harmful, and they can not enjoy the benefits that regular sports provide, “Cohen explains. Scientist believes that doctors and health authorities should pay more attention to the promotion of sports in their spare time among physical workers. “If your work is connected with physical stress, this does not mean that you do not need physical education,” the researcher explained to The Guardian.
A study of Peter Cohen and his colleagues was published in the journal British Journal of Sports Medicine.
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