Really Short Breaks from Sitting Yield Big Mental and Physical Benefits

Just a few minutes of walking improves mood, energy level and physical health markers, new research finds

When I’m really busy, I might sit on my butt in front of the computer for hours at a time. But most days I’ll take a good, long exercise break, spending an hour or more running, biking, doing yoga or working out at the gym. Seems like a good balance. Apparently not, however.

I often ignore an important aspect of physical activity, and you might want to sit up and take notice of it, too:

Several studies have documented the ill effects of prolonged sitting: It raises the risk of obesity, heart disease and a range of other chronic diseases. Yet an emerging body of research reveals we can counter these effects, and be sharper of mind, by taking frequent breaks during the day, to walk around or otherwise move the body.

Exercise “snacks” throughout the day — as little as a few minutes of walking or more intense stair-climbing, for example — add up to better physical and mental health. Also, frequent “microbreaks” from concentration, of around 10 minutes, one recent study found, reduce fatigue, increase vigor and boost performance.

Now new research has zeroed in more specifically on how long and how often walking breaks should be if you’re otherwise stuck sitting for long periods: 5 minutes of walking every 30 minutes is optimal.

While adhering to such an exact schedule may not be practical, the benefits are well worth considering. For the study, scientists had 11 people each come into a lab on five different days (I’ll address this small sample size below). Each person participated in each of five controlled, 8-hour experiments on five separate days:

• 1 minute of walking after every 30 minutes of sitting
• 1 minute of walking after 60 minutes of sitting
• 5 minutes of walking every 30 minutes.
• 5 minutes of walking every 60 minutes.
• Sitting with no walking.

Of the five schemes, only 5 minutes of walking every 30 minutes significantly lowered blood pressure and blood sugar, which when too high raises the risk of diabetes. This one also dramatically reduced blood-sugar spikes after meals, the scientists report in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

Three of the schemes that involved some walking, all but the 1-minute-every-60 approach, significantly improved self-reported mood and significantly lessened fatigue. No surprise, the “8 hours of sitting with no walking” approach was the worst on all measures.

“Our findings very much highlight the harms of desk jobs that require people to sit all day,” said study leader Keith Diaz, PhD, associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, adding that “some health benefits can be achieved with simply sitting less and moving more.”

You might want to share this story with your boss.

“This should be a wake-up call for employers of desk jobs that sitting for long periods is an occupational hazard,” Diaz told me. “On the flip side, our findings, to an extent, highlight there may be health benefits to jobs that entail periodic walking regularly.”

Now about that notable caveat: the small sample size.

Unlike many studies involving hundreds or thousands of people but which rely on self-reporting of behaviors, these experiments were highly controlled. Many potentially confounding factors were accounted for, Diaz explained in an email. During the sitting periods, the participants could read or use a laptop or phone. Other factors were tightly scripted: timing of every interval, how fast each person walked on a treadmill, room temperature, diet, water intake, even bathroom breaks.

The findings don’t discount the value of dedicated exercise sessions for vigorous activity, nor the benefits of stretching and strengthening the whole body through a variety of different exercises. However, as Diaz points out, much of the research on the benefits of exercise hasn’t factored in how people spend the rest of their days.

“The ideal active lifestyle should include both exercise and moving throughout the day, but our findings are still good news for people who may not have the time, ability or desire to exercise,” Diaz said. “Exercising for 30 or 60 minutes in the morning and then sitting for the rest of the day still poses health risk. Our findings provide a helpful strategy that exercisers can adopt to further improve their health.”

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