Roundup: How Sitting for Too Long can be Harmful for Heart Health Even if You Exercise; and More News

Sitting Too Long: Latest Research Says It’s Harmful Even if You Exercise Regularly

Sitting for extended periods, even if you exercise regularly, may still pose significant health risks, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.. Sitting for long periods is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and even premature death.

The research reveals that those who sit for more than eight hours a day, regardless of their physical activity level, have a higher risk of developing chronic conditions. This is especially true if the sitting is uninterrupted, such as in office work or long commutes.

“Sedentary risk remained even in people who were physically active, which is important because many of us sit a lot and think that if we can get out at the end of the day and do some exercise we can counterbalance it,"  said lead author Ezimamaka Ajufo, M.D., a cardiology fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. "However, we found it to be more complex than that.”

Dr. Ajufo’s team, which included researchers from across Mass General Brigham, analyzed one week of activity-tracker data from 89,530 individuals from the UK Biobank prospective cohort.

They focused on associations between daily time spent sitting and the future risk of four common cardiovascular diseases: atrial fibrillation, heart attacks, heart failure, and death from cardiovascular causes. The team used a machine learning algorithm to classify sedentary behavior.

A news release on the study states: ”They found sedentary behavior was associated with higher risks of all four types of heart disease, with a marked 40-60 percent greater risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death observed when sedentary behavior exceeded 10.6 hours a day (not including hours spent sleeping).

When one sit for long periods, the  body enters a state of low activity. This reduces the circulation of blood, slows down metabolism, and can lead to muscle atrophy. Over time, it can also negatively affect the way the body processes sugar and fat, contributing to obesity, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance.

Additionally, sitting for too long can lead to poor posture, back pain, and spinal problems. It also affects your mental health, as prolonged sitting has been associated with increased stress, anxiety, and depression.

Experts recommend breaking up long periods of sitting with short bursts of activity. Even brief, five-minute stretches or walking around every hour can help mitigate the risks. Some simple strategies include: Taking a quick walk during your lunch break; stretching every hour to relieve muscle stiffness; or using a standing desk or alternate between sitting and standing throughout the day.

The research team at Mass General Brigham said it “hopes these findings will help inform future guidelines and public health efforts. They would like future prospective studies to test the efficacy of public health interventions that help people reduce the number of hours they spend being sedentary and see how that affects cardiovascular health.”

Study: Poor Sleep Habits in Middle Age May Speed Up Brain Aging

Sufficient sleep isn't just about feeling rested. It's also a key factor in keeping the brain healthy as we age. But could poor sleep quality in middle age actually speed up brain aging? A new study suggests it might.

Published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, the study focuses on the potential connection between sleep problems and accelerated brain aging. While the study doesn't prove that bad sleep causes our brains to age faster, it does reveal a potential link between sleep quality and signs of brain decline later in life.

The research from the University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF) followed 589 participants with an average age of 40. These participants answered sleep-related questions at the beginning of the study, and again five years later. They underwent brain scans 15 years after the study started.

“While we can’t say that poor sleep causes dementia, earlier research has established an association,” said the study’s first author Clémence Cavaillès, Ph.D., of the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, in a statement. “Even if the cause of dementia is unrelated to sleep, it’s possible that poor sleep may advance or exacerbate cognitive symptoms.”

The researchers were interested in how certain sleep characteristics — such as difficulty falling asleep, waking up frequently during the night, and early morning wakefulness — could influence brain health over time. They categorized participants into three groups based on the number of sleep issues they reported:

• Low Group: One or fewer sleep problems.
• Middle Group: Two to three sleep problems.
• High Group: Four or more sleep problems.

The findings: People in the middle and high sleep problem groups had "older" brains than those in the low group. Specifically, the study found that people in the middle group had brains that were, on average, 1.6 years older than those in the low group. The high group had brains that were 2.6 years older.

While this doesn't mean poor sleep causes brain aging, it does suggest a potential link. Poor sleep habits, such as waking up often during the night or having trouble falling asleep, seem to be associated with signs of accelerated brain aging. The connection was even stronger for those who had these sleep issues consistently over a five-year period.

This research underscores the importance of good sleep hygiene, especially as we age. Kristine Yaffe, M.D., another author of the study, recommends making sleep a priority earlier in life. “Public health initiatives could include emphasizing sleep quality over quantity in midlife – and recognizing the long-term impact of poor sleep quality on the brain,” said Dr. Yaffe, in a statement.

The study’s authors concede that more research is needed to fully understand how sleep quality affects brain aging over the long term.

Fat Cells “Remember” – Making Sustained Weight Loss More Challenging, Researcher Find

A new study has uncovered that fat cells in our body "remember" their past, potentially explaining why it's so difficult to lose weight and keep it off. Published in Nature, the study reveals that fat cells don’t just store fat — they also retain a “memory” of how much fat they’ve stored over time.

Researchers from ETH Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich), a leading public research university in Switzerland, conducted a series of experiments to understand how fat cells adapt to changes in body weight.

They focused on a protein called histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3), which plays a critical role in regulating fat storage. What they found was that when fat cells are "stressed" by an increase in fat storage, they undergo changes in gene expression, effectively altering their behavior and making it harder for the body to reduce fat stores.

Even after a person loses weight, these cells can "remember" the larger fat stores they once had. This memory might contribute to the tendency to regain weight after dieting. This memory cycle is similar to how muscles “remember” the stress of a workout. But in the case of fat cells, it’s a persistent reminder to keep those fat stores intact.

The study’s findings suggest that the battle against obesity and weight regain may be more complicated than previously thought. It's not just about diet and exercise; our very cells are working against us. This could explain why some people struggle to maintain weight loss, despite their best efforts.

The memory of fat cells may also help provide new avenues for obesity treatments. If scientists can find ways to manipulate this cellular memory, it could lead to more effective, long-term weight loss strategies. For instance, targeting the HDAC3 protein could potentially disrupt the “memory” of fat cells.