Buddhist Activities related to Sedentary behavior and Hypertension in Tibetan monks.


Author: Liu K1, Xu Y1, Wang S1, Shi R1, Gong S1, Li X1, Yang Y1, Chen X2

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Cardiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.

<sup>2</sup>Department of Cardiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. xiaopingchen11@126.com.
Conference/Journal: J Hum Hypertens.
Date published: 2018 Nov 12
Other:
  Special Notes: doi: 10.1038/s41371-018-0136-0. [Epub ahead of print]   ,  Word Count: 195  
    Previous studies suggest sedentary behavior (SB) is a risk factor for hypertension. However, buddhist activities related to SB in Tibetan monks is quite different from common SB. Meditation, chanting, and buddhist teaching are the main features during sitting. There is no study to examine the association between buddhist activities related to sitting and hypertension. There were 594 Tibetan monks included for analysis. Buddhist activities related to SB involve hours of meditation, chanting, and buddhist teaching for a typical weekday and weekend day. After controlling potential risk factors, compared with Tibetan monks who has the sedentary time < 8 h/d, those with 10 h/d ≤ sedentary time < 11 h/d was associated with about 80% decrease in the risk of hypertension (OR = 0.22;95% CI = 0.07-0.71), and about 90% decrease (OR = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.03-0.40) in those with sedentary time ≥ 11 h/d. In hypertension subgroup, buddhist activities related to SB is associated with a decrease in BP during linear regression analysis (standard β = -0.355; P = 0.004 for SBP; standard β = -0.345; P = 0.013 for DBP). We conclude that sitting might not simply represent the extremely low energy expenditure of the physical activity continuum. Psychosocial activities may play an important role in SB.



PMID: 30420645  DOI: 10.1038/s41371-018-0136-0