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. 2019 Nov 27;16(23):4762.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph16234762.

Controversies in the Science of Sedentary Behaviour and Health: Insights, Perspectives and Future directions from the 2018 Queensland Sedentary Behaviour Think Tank

Stuart J H Biddle  1 , Jason A Bennie  1 , Katrien De Cocker  1 , David Dunstan  2 , Paul A Gardiner  3 , Genevieve N Healy  3 , Brigid Lynch  4 , Neville Owen  2 , Charlotte Brakenridge  5 , Wendy Brown  6 , Matthew Buman  7 , Bronwyn Clark  3 , Ing-Mari Dohrn  8 , Mitch Duncan  9 , Nicholas Gilson  6 , Tracy Kolbe-Alexander  1 , Toby Pavey  10 , Natasha Reid  3 , Corneel Vandelanotte  11 , Ineke Vergeer  1 , Grace E Vincent  12
Affiliations

Controversies in the Science of Sedentary Behaviour and Health: Insights, Perspectives and Future directions from the 2018 Queensland Sedentary Behaviour Think Tank

Stuart J H Biddle et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The development in research concerning sedentary behaviour has been rapid over the past two decades. This has led to the development of evidence and views that have become more advanced, diverse and, possibly, contentious. These include the effects of standing, the breaking up of prolonged sitting and the role of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in the association between sedentary behaviour and health outcomes. The present aim is to report the views of experts (n = 21) brought together (one-day face-to-face meeting in 2018) to consider these issues and provide conclusions and recommendations for future work. Each topic was reviewed and presented by one expert followed by full group discussion, which was recorded, transcribed and analysed. The experts concluded that (a). standing may bring benefits that accrue from postural shifts. Prolonged (mainly static) standing and prolonged sitting are both bad for health; (b). 'the best posture is the next posture'. Regularly breaking up of sitting with postural shifts and movement is vital; (c). health effects of prolonged sitting are evident even after controlling for MVPA, but high levels of MVPA can attenuate the deleterious effects of prolonged sitting depending on the health outcome of interest. Expert discussion addressed measurement, messaging and future directions.

Keywords: breaks; debate; health; mediation; moderation; physical activity; posture; sedentary; standing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of published papers with ‘sedentary’ and ‘sedentary behavio[u]r’ in the title from SCOPUS searches.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Data from Patterson et al. [91] showing risk ratios per hour for total sedentary behaviour and TV viewing with all-cause mortality.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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