A sedentary lifestyle invites many diseases. This much is fairly known. But even sitting long hours on a chair in itself causes various health problems. Now, a study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise gives us a solution for this.
In this research, 11 healthy middle-aged and older adults were asked to sit in a lab for eight hours. This represented a standard workday. They were asked to sit like this over the course of five separate days.
On one of those days, participants sat for the entire eight hours with only short breaks to use the bathroom.
On the other days, the participants were asked to walk. They walked for one minute every half an hour on one day and five minutes every half an hour. The aim was to find minimum amount of exercise to offset health problems caused due to long hours of sitting on a chair.
It was found that a five-minute light walk every half-hour was the only strategy that reduced blood sugar levels substantially compared with sitting all day. In particular, five-minute walks every half-hour reduced the blood sugar spike after eating by almost 60%.
So the solution is simple. If you want to be the health hazards of sitting for longer duration, take a short walk of five minutes every half an hour.
(With inputs from agencies)
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