Five-minute walks every half-hour are advised as a treatment for extended sitting.
The risks of extended sitting, a typical feature of modern life, are becoming more and more clear, even for those who exercise regularly. Medical specialists advise all individuals to limit the amount of time they spend sitting and increase physical exercise in light of these findings.
The topic of how much physical exercise is necessary to counteract the harmful consequences of a sedentary workweek is one that many office workers are keen to have the answer to, but few studies have examined the various possibilities.
A new study by exercise physiologists at Columbia University offers a solution: even just five minutes of walking every half-hour during extended periods of sitting can counteract some of the most detrimental consequences.
The study was published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, and was directed by Keith Diaz, Ph.D., associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Vagelos Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons.
Diaz’s study assessed five distinct exercise “snacks,” as opposed to other studies that only test one or two options: one minute of walking after every 30 minutes of sitting, one minute after 60 minutes, five minutes every 30 minutes, five minutes every 60 minutes, and no walking.
“We would have only been able to give people our best predictions of the optimal program if we hadn’t compared various possibilities and changed the frequency and length of the exercise,” Diaz claims.
Each of the 11 adults who signed up for the study came to Diaz’s lab, where they spent eight hours in an ergonomic chair, getting up only to walk on the treadmill for their recommended workout snack or use the restroom. Researchers monitored each participant to make sure they did not over- or under-exercise, and they took their blood pressure and blood sugar readings on a regular basis (key indicators of cardiovascular health). During the sessions, participants may work on a laptop, read, and use their phones. They also received standardized meals.
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