Dr's Casebook: Take ‘exercise snacks’ if you sit for long periods

The latest research is to walk after every 30 minutes of sitting. If you can't manage the five minutes then even a minute helps. The benefit of walking five minutes after an hour is lost!

Exercise is one of the best things that you can do to stay fit and healthy. If you combine that with eating a balanced diet and not smoking you are doing the right things. However, with modern working conditions many of us just sit for too long.

Dr Keith Souter writes: Back in August I wrote about the latest research that suggests that prolonged sitting may be hazardous to your health. An international study surveying more than 100,000 individuals in 21 countries found that people who sat for six to eight hours a day had a 12-13 per cent increased risk for early death and heart disease. More worryingly, they found that those who sat for more than eight hours daily increased that risk to 20 per cent.

Part of the problem with long sitting is that it can cause blood to pool in the legs. This happens because the muscles are not contracting to pump blood back to the heart. As a result the ability of blood vessels to expand from increased blood flow can become impaired. Being sedentary is also known to affect the cholesterol levels.

So, I was interested to read another study since then, which suggests that it is the prolonged sitting that causes the problem, even if you exercise regularly later. A study by exercise physiologists in the USA found that if you take an exercise snack, which just means getting up and walking about you reduce your risk. Not only that, but you can lower blood pressure and aid blood sugar control. But it has to be taken at the right time.

The researchers tested five different exercise ‘snacks’ of a group of people in their 40s to 60s. They either had one minute of walking after every 30 minutes of sitting, one minute after 60 minutes, five minutes every 30 minutes, five minutes after an hour, or lastly, no walking.

They found that five minutes of walking after half an hour sitting was the best, although even one minute after half an hour had a benefit. So, consider walking for five minutes after every half hour in the chair.