Coffee might reduce the risks associated with sedentary behaviour, a new study showed. But it shouldn’t prevent you from taking active breaks. It’s not news that sitting at a desk all day can be harmful to your health, increasing the risk of conditions like cardiovascular disease (CVD).
But could drinking coffee offer a simple solution to compensate for these risks? Researchers from the Medical College of Soochow University in China conducted a study involving over 10,000 US participants who were followed over 10 years, publishing their findings in the peer-reviewed journal . Unsurprisingly, people sitting over eight hours per day showed higher risks of death from any cause than those sitting for less than four hours daily. But for people who didn’t drink coffee, even sitting for over six hours daily was associated with heightened health risks.
Meanwhile, overall mortality significantly decreased in the population with the highest coffee consumption, while cardiovascular disease mortality decreased with any amount of coffee drunk. Researchers defined a high consumption as being superior to 540 grams per day, the equivalent of around three cups. "This study shows a compensatory cardio-protective effect of a prolonged sedentary lifestyle (more than six hours) with a significantly reduced relative risk of developing CVC and mortality compared with sedentary people who do not consume it," Dr Faiza Bossy, a France-based vascular physician who didn’t take part in the study .