Walking a little, every thirty minutes, improves blood pressure and blood sugar, refreshes the mood and reduces tiredness: it is forbidden to spend eight hours motionless in a chair
Even if you do regular physical activity, sitting for a long time is bad: the sedentary lifestyle has been associated with countless health problems, from metabolic to cardiovascular diseases. Getting up often to stretch your legs could reduce damage, according to a small study by Columbia University in New York published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Small study
The researchers asked eleven volunteers Of
sit down for eight hours in an ergonomic chair, as when one spends a working day in the office, interrupting immobility only for exercise snacks which consisted of walking on a treadmill or to the toilet: eight straight hours spent seated were considered the control condition. Then the volunteers one day walked one minute every thirty minutes sitting, in another experiment session one minute after every hour standing, then five minutes every thirty minutes or five minutes of exercise per hour. The goal was to get to give an effective dose of movement by testing different ones, evaluating their effect on blood pressure and blood sugar; well, the only dosage that reduces both parameters the five-minute walk every half hour. You get some benefit even with just one minute, while if you stretch only once an hour you don’t get any benefit.
Immediate benefits
Walking for five minutes every half hour reduced blood pressure by 4-5 mmHg, an effect comparable to exercising daily for six months, he explained. Keith Diaz, head of the study. Positive consequences have also been recorded on blood sugar, in particular after meals: compared to those who have always been seated, those who moved for five minutes every thirty saw their blood glucose peaks reduced by 58 percent
after eating. Not only that: by also analyzing mood, fatigue and cognitive performance, the researchers found that getting up from the chair improves mood and reduces tirednessThis is an important fact because, as Diaz observed, people tend to repeat and maintain the behaviors that make them feel good. The study now continues involving a larger number of people to try other doses of exercise and above all to confirm the results. In order to feel good, in addition to regular physical activity, it is also necessary to move during the working day in the office. It may seem impractical, but these data show that small but frequent breaks are enough to walk, concludes Diaz.
January 13, 2023 (change January 13, 2023 | 2:44 pm)
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