Sitting down too much increases risk of anxiety: Study

Melbourne: Low energy activities that involve sitting down are associated with an increased risk of anxiety, according to new research.

These activities, which include watching TV, working at a computer or playing electronic games, are called sedentary behaviour.

Further understanding of these behaviours and how they may be linked to anxiety could help in developing strategies to deal with this mental health problem, researchers said.

This is the first systematic review to examine the relationship between anxiety and sedentary behaviour.

Anxiety is a mental health illness that affects more than 27 million people worldwide. It is a debilitating illness that can result in people worrying excessively and can prevent people carrying out their daily life.

"Anecdotally we are seeing an increase in anxiety symptoms in our modern society, which seems to parallel the increase in sedentary behaviour," said Megan Teychenne, lead researcher and lecturer at Deakin University's Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research (C-PAN) in Australia.

Researchers analysed the results of nine studies that specifically examined the association between sedentary behaviour and anxiety.

The studies varied in what they classified as sedentary behaviour from television viewing/computer use to total sitting time, which included sitting while watching television, sitting while on transport and work-related sitting.

Two of the studies included children/adolescents while the remaining seven included adults.

It was found in five of the nine studies that an increase in sedentary behaviour was associated with an increased risk of anxiety.

In four of the studies it was found that total sitting time was associated with increased risk of anxiety.

The evidence about screen time (TV and computer use) was less strong but one study did find that 36 per cent of high school students that had more than 2 hours of screen time were more like to experience anxiety compared to those who had less than 2 hours.

The team suggests the link between sedentary behaviour and anxiety could be due to disturbances in sleep patterns, social withdrawal theory and poor metabolic health.

Social withdrawal theory proposes that prolonged sedentary behaviour, such as television viewing, can lead to withdrawal from social relationships, which has been linked to increased anxiety, researchers said.

The study was published in the journal BMC Public Health.