Sitting in Korea...Risk alert for surge in sedentary action time
Feb 26, 2025
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In this regard, the Korea Health Promotion Development Institute expressed concern about the increase in people's sedentary behavior time and said on the 26th that it is urgent to raise public awareness of the importance of physical activity.
Sedentary behavior, which means all activities that consume little energy while sitting, includes sitting time during work and learning, watching TV, and using smart devices.
According to the National Health and Nutrition Survey of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the daily sedentary behavior time of adults over the age of 19 has increased from 8.3 hours in 2018 to 9.0 hours in 2023.
In particular, according to the results of the Youth Health Behavior Survey, adolescents spend an average of 11 hours per day sitting, of which the amount of time spent sitting for purposes other than learning on weekdays has increased significantly from 2.6 hours in 2017 to 3.4 hours in 2023.
Sedentary behavior is known as a risk factor for high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer as well as musculoskeletal diseases, so improvement is needed.
In order to reduce such side effects, the World Health Organization (WHO) distributed the 「Sitting Behavior and Physical Activity Guidelines" in 2020. The guidelines recommend that adults practice at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week or a combination of at least 75 minutes of high-intensity aerobic physical activity.
Physical activity intensity can be determined by three criteria: heart rate, exercise perception (RPE), and metabolic equivalent (MET).
Medium-intensity physical activity corresponds to 64-76% of the maximum heart rate based on heart rate, 40-59% of the spare heart rate, 5 to 6 based on exercise perception, and 3 to 6 MET based on metabolic equivalents, which are conversational and sweaty, including golf, dance, walking, and cycling.
High-intensity physical activity corresponds to 77-95% of the maximum heart rate based on heart rate, 60-89% of the spare heart rate, 7 to 9 based on exercise self-awareness, and 6 MET or more based on metabolic equivalents, which are typical of running, jumping rope, swimming, soccer, and tennis at a level that is difficult to talk to.
The Korea Health Promotion Development Institute developed and distributed physical activity guidelines for Koreans with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, published and distributed Korean translations of WHO guidelines, and developed and announced life cycle practice videos to help the people reduce sedentary behavior and increase physical activity.
Professor Ha Min-sung of University of Seoul said, "Even if the proportion of sedentary behavioral hours during the day is high, the positive effects of physical activity are still valid." and added, "We recommend steady physical activity practice for health management because physical activity of more than 30 minutes a day can reduce the side effects of sedentary behavior."
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
