Those who sit for long hours face a great danger to their health, as a sedentary lifestyle causes many chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer.
Although the World Health Organization recommends “sit less and move more”, it is not clear how those whose work and daily tasks require prolonged sitting should behave.
The Italian magazine “Focus” said that many researches differed among themselves in terms of the maximum sitting periods that must be moved between them, but an American research team came up with the optimal strategy in this regard, after following changes in blood sugar levels and blood pressure, among 11 healthy middle-aged and older adults.
The researchers concluded through their experiments that the best strategy is to walk for five minutes every half hour, and thanks to that method they noticed a significant reduction in blood sugar levels, especially after lunch, by approximately 60%, and blood pressure also improved significantly.
Since a sedentary lifestyle leads to long-term states of anxiety and depression, the researchers assessed the mental health of the participants through a questionnaire, and it turned out that those who walked five minutes every half hour were in a better mood at the end of the day and felt less tired than usual.
It is indicated that it may be useful to try this new strategy, which requires minimal effort, but there is only one problem that will face those who want to follow it, which is to remember to stop working and walk every 30 minutes a little, but that problem can be overcome by using the alarm.
Scientists devise a strategy to avoid the dangers of sitting for long periods
