Breaking up sitting lowers blood glucose by 30%

Posted on Mon, 23 Apr 12

Are you sitting at your desk reading this? Research has shown that sitting for long periods has a detrimental effect on your blood glucose control and increases your risk of diabetes and heart disease. Short activity breaks have a bigger benefit than you thought.

Just 2 minutes of light or moderate walking every 20 minutes has been shown to lower blood glucose and insulin responses by about 30%, and light intensity walking was just as effective as moderate.

Breaking up your sitting time with a brief walk around the office appears to have tremendous health benefits. Some occupational health guidelines already suggest taking a break from your computer every 30 minutes to prevent eyestrain, so why not combine that with a light walk and prevent diabetes or a heart attack as well?

Reference:

Dunstan DW, Kingwell BA, Larsen R, Healy GN, Cerin E, Hamilton MT, Shaw JE, Bertovic DA, Zimmet PZ, Salmon J, Owen N. Breaking Up Prolonged Sitting Reduces Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Responses. Diabetes Care. 2012 Feb 28. [Epub ahead of print]