In the new study, which was published in the journal "Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise"Keith Diaz, assistant professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and colleagues tested the best way to combat the harmful effects of prolonged sitting on 11 volunteers.
The researchers tested 3 solutions:
- 1 minute after 60 minutes of sitting
- Five minutes after 30 minutes of sitting
- and five minutes after 60 minutes of sitting
The effects of each of these strategies were compared with those resulting from sitting Without "Walking break".
Experience
- Each of the 11 volunteers came to the researchers’ lab, where they sat on a comfortable chair for 8 hours, moving only to go to the toilet or eat a snack.
- The volunteers went through all the strategies, one after the other, plus an 8-hour period in which they moved only for a bathroom break.
- Blood pressure and blood sugar were measured during each phase of the study.
Results
The most important results of this study were:
- The strategy that has worked best is to walk for 5 minutes for every 30 minutes of sitting.
- This strategy also had a significant impact on how the volunteers’ bodies responded to large meals, resulting in a 58 percent reduction in blood pressure compared to sitting all day.
- All of the walking strategies resulted in a significant reduction in blood pressure of 4 to 5 points, compared to sitting every 8 hours.
- Each type of solution, with the exception of walking for one minute every hour, also led to a significant reduction in fatigue and an improvement in mood.
- Volunteers who got up and walked for 5 minutes every half hour had a decrease in their blood pressure blood sugar Andblood pressurecompared to those who sat sequentially.
- The researchers also found that walking for one minute every hour helps blood pressure, but not blood sugar, according to the study.
What did the researchers say?
The lead author of the study, Diaz, said:
"If you have a job that requires you to sit most of the day or have a largely sedentary lifestyle, this is one of the strategies that can improve your health and offset the health harms of sitting".
It’s not clear why sitting for long periods of time without a break is bad for your health, but Diaz suspects that at least part of the explanation is that while we’re sitting we don’t use our leg muscles..
"Muscles act as an important regulator of blood sugar levels, and if we don’t use them things don’t go right"According to Diaz.
How to take a walking break at work?
Many managers do not like their employees to be absent from their offices constantly, so Diaz advised to move, albeit in a small way, without disturbing the manager, through:
- Go to a co-worker’s office instead of sending an email
- If you’re on the phone, move through your speech
- You can bring a small water bottle to work, which will mean you’ll have to move around to refill it
Do you help "Stand desks"؟
- While standing desks have become popular, Diaz discourages them.
- And he said: "The science on standing desks is still very mixed, and there is some evidence that they may be harmful to your back and the blood vessels in your legs.".
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Mounting evidence indicates that Sitting for long periods of time – an unavoidable fact of life for many employees It is dangerous to health, even for those who exercise regularly.
In the new study, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Keith Diaz, assistant professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and colleagues tested the best way to combat the harmful effects of prolonged sitting on 11 volunteers.
The researchers tested 3 solutions:
- 1 minute after 60 minutes of sitting
- Five minutes after 30 minutes of sitting
- and five minutes after 60 minutes of sitting
The effects of each of these strategies were compared with those resulting from sitting without a “walking break”.
Experience
- Each of the 11 volunteers came to the researchers’ lab, where they sat on a comfortable chair for 8 hours, moving only to go to the toilet or eat a snack.
- The volunteers went through all the strategies, one after the other, plus an 8-hour period in which they moved only for a bathroom break.
- Blood pressure and blood sugar were measured during each phase of the study.
Results
The most important results of this study were:
- The strategy that has worked best is to walk for 5 minutes for every 30 minutes of sitting.
- This strategy also had a significant impact on how the volunteers’ bodies responded to large meals, resulting in a 58 percent reduction in blood pressure compared to sitting all day.
- All of the walking strategies resulted in a significant reduction in blood pressure of 4 to 5 points, compared to sitting every 8 hours.
- Each type of solution, with the exception of walking for one minute every hour, also led to a significant reduction in fatigue and an improvement in mood.
- Volunteers who got up and walked for 5 minutes every half hour had a decrease in their blood pressure blood sugar Andblood pressurecompared to those who sat sequentially.
- The researchers also found that walking for one minute every hour helps blood pressure, but not blood sugar, according to the study.
What did the researchers say?
The lead author of the study, Diaz, said:
“If you have a job that requires you to sit most of the day or have a largely sedentary lifestyle, this is one of the strategies that can improve your health and offset the health harms of sitting“.
It’s not clear why sitting for long periods of time without a break is bad for your health, but Diaz suspects that at least part of the explanation is that while we’re sitting we don’t use our leg muscles..
“Muscles act as an important regulator of blood sugar levels, and if we don’t use them things don’t go right,” Diaz said.
How to take a walking break at work?
Many managers do not like their employees to be absent from their offices constantly, so Diaz advised to move, albeit in a small way, without disturbing the manager, through:
- Go to a co-worker’s office instead of sending an email
- If you’re on the phone, move through your speech
- You can bring a small water bottle to work, which will mean you’ll have to move around to refill it
Do “stand-up desks” help?
- While standing desks have become popular, Diaz discourages them.
- “The science on standing desks is still very mixed, and there is some evidence that they may be harmful to your back and the blood vessels in your legs,” he said.
