The consequences of prolonged sitting are well known: heart disease, high cholesterol levels, increased waist circumference, serious spinal and leg problems … Now, a new study by Oregon Health researchers & Science University and published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise , states that damage to the arteries in the legs caused by multiple hours of sitting can be reversed in a very simple way: walking 5 minutes every hour .
To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed 11 healthy, non-obese men, aged between 20 and 35 years , who participated in two randomized trials where they measured the arterial function of the femoral artery , the largest in the thigh, every 60 minutes. . In the first one, the participants sat for 3 hours without moving their legs one bit. In the second, the volunteers were also asked to remain seated for 3 hours but with the exception of walking on a treadmill for 5 minutes every hour.
Analysis of the data from both experiments showed that in the full-time sitting experiment, the dilation and expansion of the participants’ arteries suffered a decrease of up to 50% in arterial function just after the first hour of inactivity . In the second experiment, however, there was no decrease in arterial function at any time, concluding that the increase in muscle activity, through walking for 5 minutes every hour, helped blood flow and therefore arterial function. of the legs.
Considering that we generally sit at work for about 8 hours a day, “the decline in endothelial function is significant after just 1 hour of sitting. We have shown that prolonged sitting alters endothelial function, which is an early marker of cardiovascular disease, and that the break from sitting time prevents a decrease in this function. It is interesting to see that light physical activity can help prevent this deterioration, ”says Saurabh Thosar, leader of the study.
