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Three minutes of walking around the house could help to offset the health hazards of too much sitting .
Move it or lose it
Sitting at a desk all day ? Get up every half hour , or else .
By Conor Burke
Researchers say that if you work sitting down all day you should get up and move every half hour , or run the risk of serious ill health .
A new study from an international consortium of scientists , including academics from the Australian Catholic University , looks at the impact of prolonged sitting in middle aged whitecollar workers .
We know from current research that hours at the desk can be detrimental to our metabolic health and can result in high blood sugar and high cholesterol .
The new study recruited 16 middleaged men and women from Stockholm in Sweden , who were at high risk for type 2 diabetes , had a history of obesity and worked in sedentary white collar jobs .
They wore activity monitors for a week to get baseline levels . They then split the group , with one carrying on life as normal , while the other group got up and got active for three minutes , every 30 minutes .
The control group continued to present problems with insulin resistance , blood sugar control and cholesterol levels .
The active group showed lower fasting blood sugar levels . Their blood sugar also stabilised during the day and the amount of beneficial HDL cholesterol in their bloodstreams rose .
Professor David Dunstan , from The Mary Mackillop Institute for Health Research at ACU , was part of the study and told Campus Review that the problem with sitting is that it results in reduced skeletal muscle activity , particularly the large muscle groups of the lower limbs .
“ As a result , this adversely affects many of the body ’ s regulatory processes , including the control of the amount of glucose circulating in the body ,” he said .
“ It also leads to reductions in blood flow throughout the body , including blood flow to the brain . With the average Australian adult sitting for approximately nine hours per day , this is a lot of time spent with the body ’ s engine in ‘ idle ’.”
Dunstan said that the study highlights the importance of incorporating regular short 2-3 minute active breaks during the day to avoid excessively long periods of prolonged sitting . As most people have reduced movement during prolonged lockdowns , this research is a wake-up call .
“ By simply getting up off the chair and moving those muscles , this helps to overcome the hazardous effects of too much time spent sitting ,” he said .
“ For many people , the many opportunities to move throughout the day through active commuting , walking to talk to a colleague , etc have diminished substantially .
“ A simple recommendation is to monitor the amount of time spent sitting throughout the day and to set an alarm at the half-hour or full-hour mark to get up and move the body , particularly the leg muscles – three minutes of walking around the house could help to offset the health hazards of too much sitting .” ■
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