Rate Of Obesity and Diabetes Linked To Ownership of Devices in Low to Med Income Countries

An international study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal show that in low and medium income countries, ownership of devices such as televisions, computers, and even cars are now being associated with an increased rate of obesity and diabetes. They note that the rate of obesity increased from 3.4% for no devices owned to 14.5% for 3 devices owned.

For high income countries, there was no relationship between household devices ownership and obesity or diabetes. The researchers explain that this is so because the negative impact of the devices on health have already occurred and are already reflected in the high rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes in these countries.

Ownership of these type of devices open up opportunities for sedentary entertainment like television, computers and video games. Because of this, physical activity diminishes. Recent research indicates that recommended levels of physical activity - at least 35-60 minutes per day - increases bone strength specially for children.

American Heart Association Recommendations for Physical Activity - Infographic

The American Heart Association released an infographic on its recommendations for adult physical activity to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

With today's more sedentary lifestyle at home and at work, it is a challenge for most adults to be physically active. Regular physical activity reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke. Aside from that, it also reduces other risk factors such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, excess body weight and diabetes.

Any regular physical activity from climbing stairs, walking the dog, or just stretching can have have a positive effect on the body.

Dr. Russell Pate, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Exercise at the University of South Carolina notes that one of the great public health challenges of this century is building back physical activity back into a person's daily life. “Our bodies were designed to be physically active, and they don’t do well with long-term exposure to sedentary living. Lack of physical activity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease”, he adds.

The infographic gives a general outline on the AHA's recommendations for regular physical activity that would help bring about a healthy adult lifestyle.

Life Expectancy Can Be Extended More Than 3 Years By Adjusting Sedentary Behavior

According to the the journal, Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, Sedentary behavior is defined as "any waking activity characterized by an energy expenditure ≤ 1.5 metabolic equivalents and a sitting or reclining posture..."

This generally means that sedentary behavior involves any activity that the person does sitting or lying down. This includes watching television, playing video games, computer use, driving, and reading.

A study indicates that life expectancy in the USA would be 2 years higher if adults cut their sitting time to 3 hours a day and 1.38 years higher if television viewing time is cut to less than 2 hours a day.

This analysis is detailed in an article to be published in the online BMJ Open, Peter T Katzmarzyk of Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System and I-Min Lee of the Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School,

Several previous studies have linked extended periods spent sitting down and/or watching TV to poor health, such as diabetes and death from heart disease/stroke.

The researchers used data collected for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 2005/6 and 2009/10, to calculate the amount of time US adults spent watching TV and sitting down on a daily basis.

NHANES regularly surveys a large representative sample of the US population on various aspects of their health and lifestyle.

They trawled the research database MEDLINE, looking for published studies on sitting time and deaths from all causes, and pooled the different relative risk data from the five relevant studies, involving almost 167,000 adults. The database was then reanalysed, taking account of age and sex.