How can you derail the negative impacts of prolonged sitting? New research suggests an easy prescription for preventing sitting-related health detriments, including high blood pressure and blood sugar. 

Study Summary

This research, which included data from 11 adults, found that: 

• Walking 5 minutes every 30 minutes is optimal for avoiding the blood sugar and blood pressure harms of prolonged sitting.
• This also improves mood, and reduces fatigue.

This study is limited by small sample size.

The Hearty Take

It is important to break up sedentary behavior with movement, in order to offset the negative health impacts of sedentary behavior. This study, which compared ways of breaking up sedentary behavior, showed that breaking up work every 30 minutes with 5 minutes of walking is an optimal strategy to avoid the cardiometabolic downfalls of sedentary behavior.