An American study reveals that this dose of exercise, especially in teleworking, would be good for blood pressure and blood sugar.
With changing working conditions, more and more of us are sitting in front of a desk all day. However, this constraint favors the development of a sedentary lifestyle. This is accompanied by higher risks of obesity and health problems.
To limit these risks, researchers carry out experiments. Thus, one of the most recent revealed that micro-breaks, especially those taken away from the office, were good for productivity. But one of the primary goals of researchers is to reduce our sedentary lifestyle as much as possible. If playing sports remains the best solution, a new study offers an alternative.
Indeed, it invites workers to get up 5 minutes every 30 minutes. This simple gesture would have astonishing preventive virtues according to results published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Movement that impacts blood pressure and more
In an experiment, researchers recreated ordinary working conditions in the office or at home in the laboratory. Then 11 volunteers were invited to work under these conditions for 5 days. Sitting in front of their desk, they only got up very occasionally to go to the toilet or imitate a movement (to go to a meeting for example).
However, each volunteer also had to follow a program of imposed walking breaks. Three options were studied: no walking, a 5-minute session every 30 or 60 minutes and a one-minute session every 30 or 60 minutes. But beware: the walk does not have to be strenuous.
As part of this experiment, the recommended pace was 3km/h on average. Or the equivalent of our activity when carrying out household chores. However, this speed, which can be considered low, would on its own reduce blood pressure by 4-5 points. That would also stimulate blood circulation in the legsvery inactive in front of a desk.
Activating the muscles is also beneficial for the blood sugar level
Blood pressure isn’t the only thing to benefit from these short moving sessions. Indeed, the researchers also studied the impact of the 3 break programs on blood sugar.
It appears that walking for 5 minutes reduced blood sugar levels by up to 58%. The greatest reduction was observed following the meal. For the authors of the study, this reaction is normal and closely linked to the stimulation of our muscles.
“We believe that regular short walks or ‘activity snacks’ help activate muscles to better regulate blood sugar. “. Nevertheless, it will take other studies and especially with more volunteers to determine the real effectiveness of these breaks in movement. Moreover, it is difficult to know without other results if such a program is feasible on a daily basis.
