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Stand Up to Weight Loss; It Burns Twice the Calories of Sitting

Posted on: Thursday, 24 February 2005, 21:00 CST

Death is often a sad and sudden event which changes the course of life for those left behind. But when scientists look at the deaths of large groups of people over time, studying how these people lived and why they died, those deaths can have great value. They can teach us what behaviors we must change to live longer.

The Harvard Nurses' Health Study gives us such a perspective. One of the most massive longitudinal studies in existence, it has analyzed the lifestyle and mortality of one of America's most trusted professionals, nurses, over two decades. When originally recruited, all 116,564 nurses were healthy women between the ages of 30 to 55. Twenty-four years later, 8 percent of the nurses had died (10,282); half from cancer, a fourth from cardiovascular disease and the rest from other causes.

Researchers had never before attempted to study the combined influence of weight and physical activity on mortality in women. The Harvard nurses' biannual questionnaires reporting their body weight and activity levels made it possible to match lifestyle and death outcomes. The results, published in the Dec. 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, provide one more incentive to lose weight and boost activity.

The authors of the study concluded that both increased body fat and reduced physical activity were strong and independent predictors of death. "We estimate that excess weight (Body Mass Index of 25 or higher) and physical inactivity (less than 3.5 hours of exercise per week) together account for 31 percent of all premature deaths, 59 percent of deaths from cardiovascular disease, and 21 percent of deaths from cancer among nonsmoking women."

Four subcategories of women emerged from the study analysis: women who were lean and active, lean and inactive (less than one hour per week of exercise), obese and active (Body Mass Index of 30 or higher), and obese and inactive. The risk of death was calculated for each group. The lean and active group had the lowest risk of death; the lean and inactive women had a 1.55 higher risk of death; obese and active women a 1.91 higher risk; and obese, inactive women had the highest risk at 2.42 times the lean/active rate.

Even though higher activity levels appeared beneficial in all body mass categories, they did not eliminate the higher risk of death associated with obesity. Obese groups had three times the death rate from cardiovascular disease and a 65 percent increased risk of death from cancer. Physically inactive groups had a 52 percent increase in overall mortality, doubled cardiovascular disease mortality, and 29 percent increase in cancer mortality.

A study of this size and span should serve as a warning for all of us. With two-thirds of our population overweight or obese and the vast majority falling short of the recommended activity guidelines, it is a reliable description of the end result of our current lifestyle.

Check your Body Mass Index (www.bellbodies.com/ body_mass_index.php).

If your BMI is significantly over 25, ask your health care professional to help you put together a plan for weight loss. Then stand up. Standing burns twice the calories per minute than sitting. And if you can move while you stand, you will burn three times the calories per minute. Ultimately aim for 30 minutes of motion per day (or 3.5 hours of activity per week).

You may discover that this basic prescription for good health may be one of the most important lessons you have ever learned.

* Lisa Bell is a registered nurse and a personal fitness trainer who lives and works in Newburgh. You can reach her at www.BellBodies.com

Source: Evansville Courier & Press

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