Sitting may make anxiety worse
If you have a sedentary job, heres another reminder to get up out of that chair: A new study says sitting most of the time may increase your anxiety levels.
The study, which was run by Deakin Universitys Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research (C-PAN) in Australia, was a review of a number of other studies. Scientists often do this kind of meta-analysis to see if there is agreement (or disagreement) across a range of research. The results not only mean that a larger number of subjects can be examined at one time, but can also point researchers in the right direction for further studies.
How you react to anxiety does matter. It can be hard to control, but it matters. Those that push themselves through and try to stay active and distract their mind from these negative thoughts arent going to cure their anxiety, because anxiety isnt that simple to solve. But they may find that when they finally commit to an anxiety treatment, theyre more likely to see the results, because theyve put themselves in a position where their anxiety isnt able to control them.
Moping behaviors are not the only mistake people make with anxiety, and it may not even be the worst. But it is an extremely common reaction to anxiety and stress and one that needs to be stopped in order to continue to control anxiety.
Dr. Megan Teychenne of Deakin looked at nine studies, including seven on adults and two on kids and teenagers. Five of them found associations between sitting and anxiety: The more time someone sat, the more anxiety they reported. Four studies found total sitting time linked with anxiety levels. There was also a correlation between kids and screen time and higher levels of anxiety. Those who had more than two hours a day of TV or screen time were more anxious.
Its worth noting that these studies, even in aggregate, show a correlation, not causation. It could be, for instance, that nervous people tend to watch more TV, or take jobs where they sit all day. But they results definitely worth paying attention to; strong links between exercise and reduced anxiety (which do show causation) mean that the likelihood of causation being a factor here is high.
From the results we did find sitting was linked to increased risk of anxiety, so it is important for both adults and children to try and sit less during the day, Teychenne said in a release.
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