Standing up to diabetes: sedentary behavior matters

Abstract

261 ISSN 1758-1907 10.2217/DMT.12.36 © 2012 Future Medicine Ltd Diabetes Manage. (2012) 2(4), 261–263 The importance of physical activity as a powerful therapeutic agent in the treatment and prevention of Type 2 diabetes has been recognized for many years. However, once-accepted dogmas around the definition and utility of physical activity have been challenged in recent years by the emergence of a new separate paradigm: sedentary behavior. This may appear to be just the simple inverse of physical activity but this is not the case. Sedentary behavior refers to “any waking behavior characterized by an energy expenditure ≤1.5 METs while in a sitting or reclining posture” [1]. Typical examples include TV viewing, computer use, sitting in meetings and car travel. Conversely, any standing behavior can be thought of as nonsedentary. Thus it is possible to meet the national recommended levels of physical activity (30 min per day for adults), and therefore be classified as ‘active’, whilst at the same time indulging in high levels of sedentary behavior – the two behaviors may coexist; indeed it is thought that where these behaviors do coexist, being physically active may not fully ameliorate the deleterious impact of high levels of sedentary behavior. The behavioral epidemiology framework, proposed by Sallis and Owen, specifies that in the early stages of researching a new topic, such as sedentary behavior, we need to establish that we can measure the behavior of interest and the behavior leads to meaningful health outcomes [2]. Once these have been at least partially satisfied, we need to identify the correlates of sedentary behavior and test how to reduce sedentary behavior through interventions. In this editorial, we will highlight the links between sedentary behavior and poor health and comment on current evidence concerning interventions to change sedentary behavior.