PhD degree for Yvonne Hartman

Yvonne Hartman successfully defended her thesis entitled "Sedentary behaviour in individuals with increased cardiovascular risk: understanding the prevalence, importance and mechanisms".

Outline of this thesis

This dissertation shows that sitting behavior is common in groups with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, such as people with type 2 diabetes and dementia. An intervention has been developed with which people are encouraged to interrupt their sitting every half hour with standing or walking. In this way the sitting time is effectively reduced in people with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. After 4 months of intervention, these people showed a substantial reduction in their sitting time of 1 hour per day. In addition, in this group of people an improved vascular function was visible in the legs and a higher blood flow in the brain. These changes could all contribute to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Reducing sitting time and promoting low-intensive activities such as hiking and walking is therefore an innovative and promising way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Click here to access Yvonne's thesis digitally.