23 August in London Inactivity for long periods of time throughout infancy may be laying the groundwork for heart attacks and strokes in adulthood, according to a new research released on Wednesday.
According to a research presented at the European Society of Cardiology, even in those with normal weight and blood pressure, sedentary time accumulated from infancy to early adulthood was linked to cardiac damage.
“All those hours of screen time in young people add up to a heavier heart, which we know from studies in adults raises the likelihood of heart attack and stroke,” said study author Andrew Agbaje of the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
“Children and teenagers need to move more to protect their long-term health,” he said.To learn more, scientists gave 11-year-old kids the opportunity to wear an activity tracker-equipped wristwatch for seven days.
This happened once again at age 15 and once more at age 24.
At 17 and 24 years of age, the weight of the left ventricle of the heart was measured by echocardiogram, a form of ultrasound examination, and expressed as grammes per cubic metre of height (g/m2.7). After adjusting for variables that could affect the relationship, such as age, sex, blood pressure, body fat, smoking, physical activity, and socioeconomic status, the researchers examined the association between sedentary time between the ages of 11 and 24 and heart measurements between the ages of 17 and 24.
766 kids were included in the research, of whom 55% were girls and 45% were boys.
The study found that sedentary time increased by an average of 169 minutes (2.8 hours) per day between childhood and young adulthood. Children were sedentary for an average of 362 minutes per day at age 11, rising to 474 minutes per day in adolescence (15 years of age), and 531 minutes per day in young adulthood (24 years of age).
