You work for long periods sitting down: think about your heart and stand up

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Extract from the article: A great many workers have to sit for long hours, and this is detrimental to their health. Short breaks can help to mitigate these harmful consequences. A sedentary lifestyle at work poses risks to cardiovascular and metabolic health, including excess

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A great many workers have to sit for long hours, and this is detrimental to their health. Short breaks can help to mitigate these harmful consequences. A sedentary lifestyle at work poses risks to cardiovascular and metabolic health, including excess fat, weight gain and arterial dilation. To limit these repercussions, we recommend getting up at regular intervals, at least twice an hour, to take a few steps. A team from the University of Oregon has now demonstrated the importance of these breaks.

They conducted their study on men aged between 20 and 35, in good general health and not overweight. In the first phase of the experiment, they were asked to remain seated for three consecutive hours, without getting up. In the second part, also lasting three hours, they got up after half an hour, one and a half hours and two and a half hours to take a short five-minute walk (at a moderate pace). The functionality of the femoral arteries was measured before, during (on three occasions) and after the sessions.

What do the results tell us?

Firstly, that blood flow to the legs is rapidly impaired by sitting, and that the more time passes, the more obvious this effect becomes.Secondly, that the simple act of getting up and moving at regular intervals helps to restore satisfactory arterial function (and more specifically dilation capacity).Insofar as compromised blood circulation in the legs tires the heart (it pumps less efficiently), we can therefore consider that these breaks also relieve the heart muscle.A few minutes every hour: not very demanding, but particularly beneficial.

Source: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise