Impact of Prolonged Sitting on Peripheral and Central Vascular Health

Abstract

Prolonged, uninterrupted sitting negatively impacts markers of peripheral vascular health, particularly, vasodilatory function of leg arteries. Whether sitting can similarly impact measures of central vascular health, as well as overall leg vasoreactivity (i.e., vaso-dilatory and vasoconstrictor function) remains unknown. To address this, measurements were made in relatively healthy participants (i.e., free of overt disease; n = 20, age = 26 § 7; body mass index = 30 § 7 kg/m2; 7 female) pre, during and post 3 hours of uninterrupted sitting. Measures of central vascular health included arterial wave reflection (augmentation index and Reflection Magnitude-RM%) and aortic vascular stiffness (aortic pulse wavevelocity). Local vasoreactivity of the distal, posterior tibialartery was measured using flow-mediated dilation-FMD, coupled with low-flow mediated constriction, and microvascular function was assessed through the total hyperemic blood velocity (area-under-curve) response during FMD. After sitting, there was a significant increase in aortic pulse wave velocity (pre sit = 5.7 § 0.3 vs post sit = 6.1 § 0.3 m/s; p=0.009, d = 0.36), whereas, augmentation index decreased (pre sit=13 § 3 vs post sit=3 § 1%; p < 0.001, d = 0.71). Albeit a moderate effect for decrease, RM % was not significantly altered during sitting (p = 0.13, d = 0.3). Vasodilatory (i.e., FMD pre sit = 0.5 § 0.04 vs post sit =0.3 § 0.04 mm; p = 0.014, d = 0.29) and micro vascular function (i.e., Microvascular area-under-curve: pre sit = 2,196 § 333 vs1, 157 §172 AU; p = 0.003, d = 0.31) decreased, but vasoconstrictor function (low-flow mediated constriction; p = 0.85, d = 0.005) was unaffected by sitting. In conclusion, these data demonstrate that a prolonged bout of uninterrupted sitting negatively impacts markers of peripheral and central vascular health in relatively healthy adults.

Effects of acute prolonged sitting on cerebral perfusion and executive function in young adults: A randomized cross‐over trial

“…As such, further study is warranted to determine whether the findings are generalizable to other populations. Second, we recently reported that, compared to women, men exhibit a greater increase in aortic arterial stiffness following prolonged sitting (Credeur et al, ). While we were not adequately powered to determine sex interaction effects, we cannot rule out that sex differences existed.…”

“…Considering this is the first study to simultaneously assess cerebral perfusion and executive function during acute prolonged sitting, a homogenous group of young, healthy adults was recruited to minimize the confounding influence of age and cardiometabolic abnormalities. In a similar population, our group previously reported a positive relationship between cerebral perfusion and executive function in young adults during cycling exercise (Faulkner et al, ), A 3‐hr sitting duration was selected following previous work demonstrating this duration to result in negative impairments to peripheral and central vascular health (Credeur et al, ). Calf raise exercise was selected because it engages the muscle pump, one of the primary mechanisms ensuring venous return.…”

“…However, the mechanism(s) linking repeated bouts of acute sedentary behavior exposure to chronic cerebrovascular complications, including cognitive decline, is less clear. A potential pathway linking repeated prolonged (>30 min) sitting exposure to peripheral and central cardiovascular complications is blood flow (Credeur et al, 2018;Dempsey, Larsen, Dunstan, Owen, & Kingwell, 2018;Restaino, Holwerda, Credeur, Fadel, & Padilla, 2015;Restaino et al, 2016;Wheeler et al, 2017).…”

Environmental attributes and sedentary behaviours among Canadian adults

“…Future studies can investigate environmental correlates of other types of sedentary behaviour. Moreover, evidence suggests that it is not just too much sitting, but also prolonged bouts of sitting which are deleterious to health (Credeur et al 2019;Dempsey et al 2018). Further research is needed to identify how environmental attributes may support breaking prolonged bouts of sitting.…”

An Osteopathic Physician's Approach to the Esports Athlete

“…10 A negative effect on peripheral and central vascular health was found when individuals remained in a seated position for greater than 3 hours. 37 In 2012, a professional esports athlete had a deep vein thrombosis, and treatment was delayed because he was unaware that leg pain could indicate a life-threatening condition. Survey data have also demonstrated that more than 40% of esports athletes do not participate in any kind of physical activity, 10 which signals a high prevalence of exercise deficit disorder in this population.…”