Among the priorities of nurses and other healthcare professionals is educating patients about the health risks associated with prolonged sedentary time, and about ways to reduce and interrupt such downtime. We now know that sitting too long during the day without an active break increases the risk of many diseases, even if you engage in the recommended physical activity. This study highlights the privileged role of nurses in reducing these risks through an exhaustive review of the literature. Advice and protocols described in the American Journal of Nursing.
As evidence of the detrimental effects of a prolonged sedentary lifestyle continues to mount, with its increased prevalence in our Western lifestyles, researchers, such as Linda Eanes, from the School of Nursing at the University of Texas (Edinburgh ) highlight the role of prevention to be played by caregivers, including nurses, and awareness of the harmful effects of a daily sedentary lifestyle, which is too regular and prolonged. Tips caregivers can offer include using a standing desk or taking long walks or standing breaks, as well as using computer or smartphone reminders to remember to take short breaks of physical activity during the day.
Sitting, physical inactivity, evidence of a significantly increased risk of chronic disease: In recent years, studies have accumulated evidence of this direct relationship between prolonged sitting and the risk of several chronic diseases. Increased health risks have been reported for wheelchair-seated patients who sit for 7 hours or more per day as well as for some employees who sit continuously for 30 minutes or more without a break. In addition, the health risks associated with prolonged sitting are independent of the practice or not of a recommended physical activity.
A well-documented association between uninterrupted or prolonged sitting and health risks: in particular the relationship is well established with the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and all-cause mortality. Obesity is obviously inseparable from a sedentary lifestyle and the increased risk of certain cancers, in particular cancer of the ovaries, endometrium and colon.
How immobility increases health risks? Immobility decreases stimulation of weight-bearing muscles, resulting in reduced activity of an enzyme (lipoprotein lipase) that plays an essential role in lipid metabolism, including the production of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (called "good cholesterol”). On the other hand, interrupting this “sedentary lifestyle” by frequent periods of walking, even slow ones, can considerably reduce these metabolic risks, even if the optimal level of time spent standing or even walking remains uncertain.
A priority for nurses and other healthcare professionals is therefore to educate patients about the health risks associated with prolonged sedentary time and to make personalized suggestions to their patients, and according to their state of health, to reduce and interrupt sedentary time. Unlike efforts and interventions to promote and increase physical activity, simply providing people with information about the risks of physical inactivity and education about the benefits of physical activity can be effective.
This analysis thus calls on nurses not only to promote the practice of regular physical activity among their patients, but also to pay more attention to the evaluation of the total duration of their sedentary time and to the understanding of individual, social , professionals and community/environmental contributors. "Nurses can also actively encourage all patients, regardless of demographic, to balance sedentary behavior and physical activity by simply taking standing breaks or taking short walks."
In short, according to the authors, nurses have a privileged role to play in contributing to research on the health risks associated with prolonged sitting and to the development of new effective interventions to reduce these risks.
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