Pablo Lobo

By Olga López Torres, Pablo Lobo, Valeria Baigún and Gabriela F. De Roia

Lifestyle has changed in the last century increasingly promoting sedentary behaviors. Prolonged sitting time is related to increased all-cause mortality risk. Therefore, scientific research aimed at understanding the effects of sitting on health has increased to find effective interventions that can be carried out in life domains (study, work, transport, and free time). The interaction between physical activity and sitting time plays a key role in the development of strategies to promote physical activity practice and reduce sedentary behavior. Accepting that the modern societies incite to spend long periods seated, the aim seems to find a balance between all the areas during the 24 h of the day. Maintaining sleep time, reducing screen leisure time to 3 h/day, and breaking prolonged sedentary time for 2–3 min every 30 min-1 h of sitting, as well as reaching the physical activity recommendation may help counteract the potential negative effect of too much sitting time. Governments must provide active free time options to promote active leisure time and help reduce screen time. At workplaces, managers and companies should encourage sitting breaks and work standing options, and for the special population such as children or older adults, new strategies must be considered to reduce sitting time.

Part of the book: Sedentary Behaviour