Sedentariness: A Need for a Definition

摘要

Sedentary behavior is a growing field of research which is now recognized as a public health issue (1). Sedentary comes from the latin term “sedere,” which means “to sit.” Many researchers have shown that remaining seated for prolonged periods of time can lead to several detrimental health effects at the physiological level [see (2) for a systematic review], such as an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease (3–5), type 2 diabetes (3, 4, 6), obesity (4, 7), some cancers (8, 9), or musculoskeletal disorders (10, 11). It also has detrimental effects at the psychological level, such as depression (12–14), anxiety (14–16), or cognitive decline [(17–19); for a review, see 20]. However, there is no consensus in the physiological results (for contradictory results concerning cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, see 21, 22, respectively), and psychological results are still not consistent for depression (23), anxiety (24), or cognitive decline (17). More research is therefore needed to further understand the implications of sedentary behavior on both physiological (25) and psychological health (17).