We hear a lot about how terrible sitting all day is for us, but new research has found a simple fix to cut the health risks. For many of us, sitting for long periods of time comes with the territory at work, and evidence suggests it leads to a number of health concerns, including obesity, increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and unhealthy cholesterol levels. But according to a new study, a short stroll can help undo some of that damage from sitting.
In the study, participants who got up and walked around for five minutes every half hour had lower blood pressure and lower blood sugar than those who sat continuously.
- Researchers tested several strategies to get participants moving to see which one led to the best results.
- The one that worked best was the five minutes of walking for every 30 minutes of sitting. It produced a 58% reduction in blood pressure spike compared to sitting all day.
- Even getting up and walking for just one minute every hour helps lower blood pressure, but not blood sugar, the study finds.
- Each type of “exercise snack” also led to “significant decreases” in fatigue and improvements in mood, with the exception of walking one minute every hour.
“If you have a job that requires you to sit most of the day or have a largely sedentary lifestyle, this is one strategy that could improve our health and offset the health harms from sitting,” explains lead study author Keith Diaz, an associate professor of behavioral medicine at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. But he acknowledges that some managers might frown on workers walking away from their desks every half hour and to deal with that, he says, “The next big important step for us is to change workplace culture.
Source: Today