Does sitting for long periods of time hurt your heart? The article “Why Sitting May Be Bad for Your Heart” (The New York Times, December 20, 2017) describes a study of 1700 people who were participants in the Dallas Heart Study. The study found that the people who sat for long periods of time tended to have higher levels of troponin in their blood. Troponin is a protein that is released when the heart muscle has been damaged. 

The article states that “Of course, this was an observational study and can show only that sitting is linked to high troponin, not that it causes troponins to rise.” Do you agree with this statement? Explain.