The Spring Festival holiday is coming! What plans did everyone do? Unfortunately, during this period of repeated epidemics, travel must be in vain, honestly nesting at home seems to be a doomed thing - "Ge You Lie" + brush mobile phone, there is no doubt about the "standard" life.
Perhaps anticipating the lazy state of everyone's "coach potato", on January 20, the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology published a new paper that sounded a wake-up call for everyone - the article pointed out that people who watched TV for 4 hours a day had a 35% increased risk of blood clots compared to those who watched TV≥ for < 2.5 hours a day!
Figure 1. Television viewing and venous thrombo-embolism（图片来源：European Journal of Preventive Cardiology）
For "blood clots", I believe everyone must have heard about it. It mainly refers to a small piece of the inner membrane of the blood vessel wall that forms after it has been peeled off or coagulated. They are like a group of crazy people who are bumping around in the blood vessels, with blood circulation, the embolus formed is very easy to cause partial or complete blockage in the blood vessels (especially some small blood vessels) after aggregation, resulting in the blood supply in the corresponding parts of the obstruction, resulting in ischemia, hypoxia, edema, necrosis and other conditions of the corresponding tissues and / or organs.
With the acceleration of the pace of life and the increase of life pressure in recent years, the prevalence of "thrombosis" has begun to increase year by year, and the age of onset has gradually shown a younger trend. In terms of classification, "thrombosis" can be simply divided into two types: arterial thrombotic disease (arterial thrombotic disease) and venous thrombo-embolism (VTE, venous thrombo-embolism). Their causes are the same, in addition to some congenital factors, most of them are related to eating habits, including obesity, smoking, etc.; the pathophysiological pathways of the two also have commonalities, such as coagulation, platelet activation and dyslipidemia.
Figure 2. Blood clots may appear in any part of the body's arteriovenous vessels (Image: Pixabay)
When it comes to factors that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, one can think of "physical inactivity" or "prolonged sedentary behavior" (Ps: these two are not synonymous). There has been a lot of evidence that there is indeed an inextricable relationship between "sedentary" and "arterial thrombotic disease" – what about "venous thromboembolism"?
To present a more comprehensive list of scientific evidence, the researchers put together the most representative "sedentary" behavior — "watching TV" with "venous thromboembolism" and investigated accordingly.
In the paper described above, the researchers collected a wealth of existing research evidence relevant to the topic and systematically reviewed it through meta-analysis to combine process and results, which would lead to more accurate and reliable conclusions than individual studies.
Of the 28 relevant citations that have been screened, the researchers finally selected 3 articles that met the criteria. Published between 2016 and 2021, these articles represent three unique prospective studies conducted in the United States (2) and Japan (1). The number of participants was 131,421, all aged 40 years and older, and they did not have pre-existing venous thromboembolism. The average follow-up time for the three studies ranged from 5.1 years to 19.8 years, during which time a total of 964 participants developed "venous thromboembolism."
The researchers assessed how long participants "chased drama" through questionnaires and divided them into "people who watched TV for a long time" (people who watched TV for at least 4 hours a day) and "people who never or rarely watched TV" (who watched TV for less than 2.5 hours a day). From the aggregate analysis, it is clear to conclude that the "sedentary" behavior of watching TELEVISION for a long time is associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism. It is estimated that such populations are 1.35 times more likely to develop venous thromboembolism than people who do not or rarely watch television, and this association is not related to age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and physical activity.
Figure 3. Overall and Conclusions（图片来源：European Journal of Preventive Cardiology）
This conclusion is really unexpected by many people - the increased risk of venous thromboembolism caused by watching TV has nothing to do with physical exercise? This is reflected in the study conducted in Japan: The researchers found that even reaching the recommended level of physical activity did not eliminate the increased risk of venous thromboembolism from watching TV for long periods of time; the same conclusion was also shown in another report that regular exercise did not reduce the increased risk of death due to prolonged sitting.
Of course, the researchers also pointed out that another possible reason for this risk, or because everyone's mouth is always not idle when chasing the drama - snacks and drinks are actually potential "accomplices".
Figure 4. coach potato (Image: Pixabay)
Regarding these conclusions, the lead author of the paper, Dr. Setor Kunutsor of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, also reminded: "These findings are based on observational research... Watching TV for long periods of time can make a person feel as if they are 'nailed' in that position – a risk factor for venous thromboembolism, which is why patients who have completed surgery are encouraged to get out of bed and move around more often. Moreover, after sitting for a long time, the blood that should have been circulating will congeal in the limbs, resulting in the formation of blood clots... Therefore, if you really can't control the drama that you have to chase for a long time, remember to take a break, such as standing up every 30 minutes to stretch your body, or riding a spinning bike. Also, be sure to avoid eating unhealthy snacks while watching TV. ”
The same reason is also given to office workers who sit in front of the computer for a long time - in order to prevent blood clots, it is also very necessary to get up properly to "touch the fish".